fj-x/ 
 
TtiJ- 
 
 WRITINGS AND LIFE 
 
 OF 
 
 WILLIAM BLACK LAWS, 
 
 LATK UOOKSKr.LEU OF (iLASdOW, SroPLANO, 
 
 Mostly known as WILLIAM B, LAWS, Sr., or WILLIAM LAWS, Sr. 
 
 BOBN AT BRF:CHIN, SOOTLA.ND. OCTOBER 13th, 1811. 
 
 HIS FATHER 1)TED AT PERTH, 1813. 
 
 HIS MOTHER DIED AT WARWICK, CANADA, NOV. 24, 1860, Aged 73 YEARS. 
 
 HE EMIGRATED FROM GLASGOW, SCOTLAND, TO CANADA, IN 1858. 
 
 HE DIED AT WARWICK, CANADA, MAY 1st, 1875, Aged 63i Years. 
 
 BURIED IN WATFORD PRESBYJ EKIAN GRAVEYARD. 
 
 Whfin once a thought is bieath'd on air 
 It5 influence goes you know not where. 
 When placed on paper by the pen 
 It can be read by future men, 
 But who can at the future look 
 When t'ldughts are printed in a book 
 And teil what lives they may adorn 
 Of generations yet unborn. 
 
 T. B. L. 
 
 PRINTED BY JOilN LOVELL & SON, 23 ST. NICHOLAS STREET 
 
 '89s , C- 
 
Entered according to Act of Parliament of Canada in the year 1895, ^Y 
 Thomas Black Laws, at the Department of Agriculture. 
 
 
Mr. A: Mrs. JAMES M. BURNS. 
 
PREFACE AN13 DEDICATION. 
 
 THIS HOOK IS DKDICATKUTOTHK MKMOKV 
 
 (11' 
 
 KLIZAHKTH ULACKUAWH I3URN8 
 
 AM) IlKK HUSIIANIl 
 
 J A M B H BURNS. 
 
 Having received a legacy from my aunt on her death, and not re- 
 quiring the money for my own use, I thought that nothing would 
 commemorate her memory longer, or please her better, than publish- 
 ing the works of her brother. He ! though he is dead yet speakfith. 
 I would ask the reader to overlook any inaccuracies in language, as 
 my father is not living to correct the proof sheets, and I have copied 
 many of them from manuscripts that were interlined, and I do not 
 feel justified to make any alterations, which I have no doubt he 
 would make if living, hoping that they will prove both useful and 
 
 entertaining. 
 
 I remain, yours truly, 
 
 THOMAS BLACK LAWS 
 
 James M. Burns was born, I think in Montrose, Scotland ; he had 
 only two brothers — David and Robert; he was a tailor by trade ; 
 while quite a young man he married Elizabeth Wm. B. Laws, only 
 sister. He followed his trade in various town? in Scotland, and 
 about the year 1850 removed to Warwick village in Ontario, Canada, 
 and started a clothing house, to which he added some years after a 
 stock of groceries ; he also kept the post office for several years, but 
 being latterly troubled with asthma, he gave up all business, and re- 
 tired, living on his savings, happy and contented. He was a strong 
 Baptist and Reformer. 
 
 Mr. Burns died on 3olh December, 1879, leaving his wife Elizabeth 
 well provided for. He was buried in the Watford Presbyterian grave- 
 yard, just south of my father's grave, and his wife, some time after 
 his death, moved to Scotland, and died at Montrose, Scotland, on the 
 24th May, 1894, aged 81 years, having been born at Perth, 14th 
 February, 18 13, she was buried in Rose Hill cemetery and a monu- 
 ment erected to her memory. 
 
SBRR/ION, John iii-i6. 
 
 These words form part of the conversation that took place between 
 our Lord and Nicodemus by night. This discourse, brief us it is, 
 contains the very marrow of the Gospel ; understand it thoroughly, 
 ai d you have the principles of Christianity fully comprehended. 
 The time which Nicodemus chose to have an interview with our 
 Lord is by some thought to indicate his fear of man, yet we find in 
 two other instances in which he is mentioned in this Gospel that he 
 was not ashamed of our Lord. The first of these instances was at 
 the consultation which the Grand Council had regarding the accus- 
 ation of Jesus, when he there acted the part of a friend to our Lord; 
 and his colleagues viewed his remarks in that light, for they imme" 
 diately put the question to him, " Art thou also of Galilee ?" The 
 second instance is at the burial of Jesus, where hi comes with 
 Joseph of Arimathnea (who was a disciple of Jesus secretly for fear 
 of the Jews), and he brought with him an hundred pound weight of 
 aloes and myrrh, and this act plainly shows the great regard that he 
 had for Jesus. There can be no doubt but he was a man anxious 
 to know the truth, and that he was deeply impressed both with the 
 doctrines and miracles of Jesus, and therefore desired a further 
 knowledge of this, to him, wonderful man. From what he had seen 
 it the feast, he was convinced that he was more than man, for he 
 says : " No man can do these miracles which thou doest except God 
 be along with him." 
 
 The Jews at this time anticipated the coming of the Messiah, and 
 perhaps Nicodemus, being a learned man, shared in the same feelings 
 of his countrymen ; and our Saviour knowing the opinions of 
 Pharisees, he commenced at once to correr' this prominent error, 
 namely, their trusting to rites and ceremonies for acceptance and 
 reconciliation with God, and the forgiveness of sins, through the 
 washing of the body ; nd the eating of certain meats. Our Lord 
 therefore commences with showing him the necessity of a new birth 
 
O WRITINGS AND LIFE OIT 
 
 of the soul being regenerated, being bori: of the spirit cf Clod, and 
 made a partaker of the divine nature. Nicodemus felt surprised at 
 such a doctrine, yet he prosecutes his enquiry, which shows his 
 earnestness, and exclaims : " How can these things be?." 
 
 Our Lord further instructs Him, and in doing so He informs him 
 that He was God in human form, verse 13. "No man," He says, 
 " hath ascended up to heaven, but He that came down from heaven, 
 even the Son of man which is in heaven." By this wo understand 
 that at the very moment wiiile he was talking with him, all the uni- 
 verse was supported by Jesus, nay, His presence was in the heaven of 
 heavens. Such an announcement must have had a great effect 
 upon Nicodemus — to he told that he was before his Creator, that his 
 eyes were looking upon the Almighty, and that he was the Ancient 
 of days foretold of by Daniel the Prophet. Thefiiith of Nicodemus 
 must have been great in those miracles which he had seen Jesus 
 perform, for while the circumstance in w.ich he found him in was 
 contrary to the ciiaracter he claimed, yet Nicodemus does not 
 accuse him of being an imposter, but listens to him with great 
 attention, ccpial to a declaration of his belief in Jesus as the God- 
 man. 
 
 The position]of Jesus was one of meanness if not absolute poverty ; 
 but,here is a man occupying almost the highest place in the nation, giv- 
 ing him reverence and believing his declarations as the truth of God ; 
 he was a man from his position and education able to detect impos- 
 ture or deception, and he gives his testimony in favor of our Lord ; 
 besides, all his prejudices were in the other direction. The greatest 
 enemies our Lord had were the Pharisees, and he was one of them ; 
 men generally adhere to their party, or are tnore or less influenced 
 by their party, but Nicod' us, in opposition to that influence, and 
 without fear or dread of t le threats or sneers of his associates, de- 
 clares his belief in Jesus as the Messiah, What a noble testimony 
 to the truth of Christianity, an eye-witness and his evidence is given 
 by the historian so unostentatiously, that if the enemies of revela- 
 tion would but read it they would be convinced. 
 
 Are you, my friends, interested in the declarations of Jesus? What 
 affected Nicodemus equally affects you ; if he had a soul to be saved, 
 so have you ; if he was anxious for a reconciliation with his God, so 
 ought you ; if he found Jesus to be the truth, let me beseech you to 
 
WILLIAM BLACK LAWS. 7 
 
 listen with an unprejudiced heart to the words that affected him, 
 namely, the glorious announcement, "Tha* God so loved the world 
 that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever bclieveth in Him 
 should not perish but have everlasting life." 
 
 In treating of this subject I wjU arrange my remarks under three 
 heads : — 
 
 1. God's love to the world. 
 
 2. The proof that God really did love the world. 
 
 3. The object God had in view in loving the world. 
 
 I' irst, then, God's love to the world. What a glorious theme to 
 occupy the attention of sinners, and we are all sinners, whether we 
 admit it or not. Love is known to us as one of the passions, ex- 
 pressing delight in something, or a desire to have something. It is 
 also kindness and goodwill. It manifests itself under three different 
 impulses, namely, instinct, admiration and pity. Every animal has 
 the love of instinct, and we see it ext^ressed in a regard to preserve 
 their lives and shunning danger, as well as in the care which they 
 have over their progeny. The fo-.vls of the air, the beasts of the 
 earth, and man are all ready to risk their lives for their young, if 
 they find they are in jeopardy. But this was not the love here 
 spoken of when it said that God so loved the world. No doubt, 
 God is our creator, the author of our existence, and that is 
 undoubtedly proved to us e ,'ry day by the provision which He 
 makes for us. VVe eat His bread, we drink His water, and we 
 breathe His air, and so does the rest of His animated creation ; but 
 this love is here spoken of as something more than co mmou, for the 
 word " so " is made use of, " God so loved." 
 
 When we are attracted to any object, so as to admire it, the 
 qualifications of that object are generally very high, and our mind 
 is excited towards it from that very cause. The church has been 
 represented by Solomon as the betrothed one of Jehovah, and under 
 that character sings the praise of his bride. And what lover docg 
 not see In his fair one virtues of great perfection ; he looks upon 
 her as excelling all others, and the fair one has the .ame idea 
 towards her lover ; and it is good when the union has taken place 
 that such opinions continue and become stronger; if such is not 
 the case, the marriage relations are anything but pleasant. We 
 only know love from our experience of it by ourselves. 
 
S WRITINGS AND LIFE OF 
 
 But what was there in man to admire in the sight of God ? 
 When God finished the wholecreation, He looked upon it from His 
 throne of holiness, and pronounced it good. Man was a part of 
 that creation, and he therefore came from the hands of his Creator 
 perfect. Made in the image of God, he could be nothing else. 
 God then had conversation with him, and he delighted in his fellow- 
 ship ; but he, man, chose his own ways rather than God's, and 
 therefore has become antagonistic to his Creator. Two cannot 
 walk together except they be agreed, and we see now that man 
 differs from God, and therefore God cannot love him. Why can- 
 not God love him? God is holy, but is man holy? Is he not 
 depraved in every faculty of his soul ? There are some who deny 
 this ; but what does experience say, what do our own hearts say, do 
 they never accuse us? Have we never felt ourselves having hard 
 thoughts of God? True, we have never seen Him, but we know He 
 exists, we feel that everything around us declares Him. We feel also 
 that we are His creatures, and we feel also that we are not agreed with 
 Him,-in fact, we are opposed to Him. Can perfection love error, and 
 government love rebellion ? And man is a rebel. In the heart of 
 man selfishness is its principal character, from which spring evil 
 thoughts, murders, adulteries, thefts, lies, blasphemies. When 
 such a character is brought before the reason of man, man himself 
 shudders at it. How then can the holy God admire it ? In our 
 eyes, what do we think of treachery ? Even with our depraved rea" 
 son v/e abhor it. What does history declare? Its pages are 
 nothing more than a record of crimes which man has committed 
 against man, crimes of the blackest character. But perhaps there 
 are some here who think that this is not their character. Oh ! my 
 friend, whoever you are, let me advise you to " know yourself," watch 
 your feelings just as you are about to engage in bargaining, and 
 you will find that your picture is not a lovely one ; you will find 
 that you would hke to cheat, even your God, but I am afraid you 
 will cheat yourself. Can He who charges the holy angels with folly 
 love you ? What can He admire in you ? Nothing ; He can only 
 abhor you. God loves man from pity. He saw him full of wounds 
 and bruises and putrified sores, and He pitied him. Can we love 
 decrepitude ? So are our souls in the eyes of God deformed, a 
 mass of corrupted thoughts, and which can be nothing else than 
 
WILLIAM BLACK LAWS. 9 
 
 repulsive to a pure mind. You, oh ! sinner, may ihink ihis a strange 
 doctrine ; you may think this an exaggeration of the case ; but, my 
 friends, we do not know our moral and mental filthiness. We move 
 on as it were by grades, and these steps, as it were, carry us onward 
 imperceptibly to ourseh ^ in the career of wickedness. 
 
 David, of vhom it was recorded that he was a man according to 
 God's own heart ; yet in the matter of Bathsheba see how he acted. 
 When the prophet Nathan in his parable pointed out the criminal- 
 ity of his conduct, under the guise of another man who had taken the 
 poor man's ewe lamb and spared his own flock, king David in wrath 
 and indignation exclaimed : " That man shall surely die ! " but how 
 startled was the king to hear the prophet say, " Thou art the man." 
 Thou hast seduced Bathsheba, and to cover that seduction thou 
 hast slain her husband. Oh may we have the same penitence and 
 sorrow for sin that David had, and in such a condition how gratify- 
 ing to know that God Joves us, sinners that we be, that He pities 
 us in our lost condition. 
 
 Our Saviour says : where is the man that has an hundred sheep s 
 and if he loses one of them does not leave the ninety and nine in 
 the wilderness and go after that which is lost till he find it, and 
 Avhen he has found it, he layeth it on his shoulders rejoicing. And 
 when he cometh home he calleth together his friends and neighbours, 
 saying unto them : " Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that 
 was lost." Holy angels and archangels, cherubim and seraphim, 
 praise God continually. They are a reflection of the divine nature, 
 they were never guilty of any impure thought, and they continually 
 perform the divine will in perfect obedience. God found no fault 
 with them, therefore he did not need man to sing His praises ; but 
 he loved man as the lost one. Look how sinful man loves his pro- 
 fligate child. He can make excuses even for his disobedience and 
 wickedness. See how king David lamented his son, and cried : " Oh 
 Absolom ! my son, my son, would 'oGod I had died for thee ! ' 
 Thus sinful men can love their own children that are prodigals, born 
 in their own likeness, but how strange it is that the holy God love , 
 man who has made himself the child of the devil. No wonder the 
 apostle says ** God is love," as if that was the only perfection God 
 has. In this life our knowledge is so imperfect, that we will never 
 realize the extent of God's love, but in the world to come it will be 
 
10 WRITINGS AND LIFE OF 
 
 our continual admiration and astonishment that God loved us, sin- 
 ners. Which brings me to the second head proposed, namely : — 
 
 2. The proof that God really loved the world. He gave His only 
 begotten Son. Some men when you are in deep distress will sym- 
 pathize with you by words, and some will be willing to go a little 
 farther; but where is the man that will give his son, his only begot- 
 ten, for a criminal, for a wretch doomed by the law of infallible just- 
 ice to death, for a rebel who had defied his God, his authority and 
 his laws ? Man was bound to give to his Greater as his Creator his 
 obedience. He was bound to give Him his heart ; but his choice 
 was otherwise, he refused, and therefore deserves nothing but per- 
 dition, nothing but utter destruction. Man being in this conditioni 
 God gives His Son for him. When man was in the garden God said 
 to him : " Thou shaltnot eat of the fruit of that tree, for in the day 
 ye shall eat thereof thou shalt surely die." Man did eat, and he 
 did die, and we his children are all dead in him. We have all his 
 nature and therefore his doom. 
 
 But could there be no other substitute found by the Son of God? 
 Let us look and see. The holiest of the angelic creation hide their 
 faces at the holiness of God, and they have only qualifications for 
 their own obedience, can they therefore make obedience for the 
 defalcations of another, if they can only pay to God's law what they 
 owe themselves, how can they pay the debts of another ? No 
 creature can be to God a substitute for another, and the angels are 
 creatures. But who is the Son of God ? Angels are called sons of 
 God, and they are so by creation. But who is the only begotten 
 Son of God ? This is a name which only the Revelation of God can 
 explain, and let us hear what the inspired writings tell us concern- 
 ing it. 
 
 BBR]VION, JOMN iii-i6. 
 
 When we hear of a ruler bestowing favours and gifts of great im- 
 portance upon individuals who have despised his authority and re- 
 belled against his imperative commands, we are apt to suspect the 
 motives which impel him to such a line of conduct \ we imagine 
 that evil is intended while there is the appearance of kindness. The 
 
WILLIAM BLACK LAWS. II 
 
 great God, who is infinite in knowledge, aware that such a construc- 
 tion might be put upon His actions relative to man, at once in this 
 passage distinctly informs us what were the motives which actuated 
 Him '^hen He determined to deliver man from the awful position 
 in which his misconduct had placed him ; that love, pure and un- 
 mixed love, was the only motive is here positively asserted, and that 
 such is actually the case can be proved by the nature of God, the 
 position man occupied, the intrinsic value of the gift, and the ad- 
 vantages to be derived from accepting God's terms. 
 
 I. From the nature of God it can be proved that it was love that 
 induced Him to save man. There are various kinds ot love, — there 
 is instinctive love, there is selfish love, there is a love of virtue, and 
 there is a love arising from pity and kindness ; instinctive love is 
 that which is naturally inherent, and arises from the relative posi- 
 tions the parties occupy ; thus parents naturally and intensely love 
 their child on account of its being their offspring, and the love of 
 the mother is often used in Scripture to compare the love of God 
 both from iis excess and from its duration ; selfish love is what 
 arises from interested motives, and with no intention of benefitmg 
 the apparent object of love ; a love of virtue is loving men only for 
 their virtuous characters, no other stimulant being the cause why 
 you esteem and love them ; the love that arises from pity and kind- 
 ness, the object of affection having no virtue to call forth your es- 
 teem, can emanate only from a perfect mind, and this is the kind of 
 love with which Goa loved the world when He gave His only begot- 
 ten Son to die for it — for it is impossible for God to be selfish, He is 
 a being immaculate and in whom perfection centres, nature without 
 the aid of revelation declares the perfection of His being, and He is 
 declared in the sacred writings as a just and holy God, that justice 
 reigns through all His attributes, and in consistency with His char- 
 acter God could not love but with pity and kindness, for if God can 
 be selfish. Deity is no longer perfection, and then if such were the 
 case, the universe itself must sink into disorder and confusion. God 
 is not a man that He should lie, neither the son of man that He 
 should repent ; hath He said and will He not dc it, or hath He 
 spoken, and shall He not make it good. God cannot therefore love 
 with a deceptive love, for he tells Israel that he did not set his love 
 upon them nor choose them because thev were more in number 
 
X2 WRITINGS AND LIFE OF 
 
 than any people, for je were the fewest of all people, but because 
 the Lord loved you and because He would keep the oath which He 
 had sworn to your fathers. 
 
 2. From the position man occupied, it can be proved that love 
 was God's only motive. Man's disobedience placed him in circum- 
 stances of great danger]: it exposed him to the retributive justice of 
 God's law, and to His fierce wrath for contempt of His authority. 
 Greater evils could not be inflicted upon him than what was con- 
 tained in His awful sentence : " In the day thou eatest thereof thou 
 shalt surely die;" by this he was entirely and forever banished from 
 the presence of God, and without that presence there can be no hap- 
 piness and no peace, nothing but misery, eternal misery ; the thought 
 is terrific, and led the evangelical prophet to exclaim : " Who 
 among us shall dwell with the devouring fire ; who among us 
 shall dwell with everlasting burnings," there was therefore no in- 
 ducement for God to hold out false hopes of recovery to man, with 
 the view of wreaking greater vengeance upon him, for if he had 
 done .so he could have been disappointed, because the works of 
 man had already earned the full reward of iniquity, and again the 
 insincerity of Ciod would have levelled the Deity to the character 
 of man, by which means God and man would have been equal in 
 point of character ; but, further, man was entiiely in the power of 
 God, by nature a feeble being deriving existence from God, whose 
 power is a nothing when compared with God's. Manoeuvreing 
 and intrigue are only employed where the parties are equal or neany 
 so ; and as man could I e no rival to the throne of God in so far as 
 power is concerned, God did not require to resort to such means to 
 humble rebel man, and although it was desire to be like God that 
 prompted them to the act of transgression of which they were 
 guilty, yet what were they that they could contend with their Maker, 
 so that nothing but pure love could call forth from the three-one 
 Jehovah the plan of salvation devised by Him. God in reasoning 
 with the children of Israel co'nmands the prophet Ezekiel in bold» 
 figurative and poetical language to describe his affection for them, 
 and say : " Thus saith the Lord God unto Jerusalem : Thy birth and 
 thy nativity is of the land of Canaan ; thy faiher was an Amorite 
 and thy mother an Hittite. And as for thy nativity, in the day 
 thou wast born, thy navel was not cut, neither wast thou washed in 
 
WILLIAM BLACK LAWS. 1 3 
 
 water to supple thee ; thou wast not salted at all nor swaddled at ail. 
 None eye pitied thee to do any of these unto thee, to have com" 
 passion upon thee ; but thou was cast out into the open field to the 
 loathing of thy person in the day that thou wast born. And when 
 I pao^ ' ' "'>nn' ^(j in thine own blood, I said unto 
 
 thee in thy blood : Live ; yea, 1 said unto thee in thy blood. Live," 
 (And so on to verse 15.) This pas&age is to be understood allegor- 
 ically. Jerusalem represents the whole human family sunk in the 
 depth of misery caused by their estrangement from their Creator, and 
 is beautifully described by their being allied to base parents — thy fa- 
 ther was an Amorite and thy mother an Hittite. The feebleness 
 and depravity of man is likewise strongly portrayed — thou wast lying 
 in thy blood. Such is the miserable condition of the whole family 
 of man, depraved in intellect and sunk in spiritual ignorance, lying 
 under the curse and wrath of God, a prey to the being who enticed 
 them from the path of rectitude, who delights to torment them with 
 real and imaginary fears, nothing to comfort them but everything 
 to torment them, regret for what they have lost, and trembling with 
 terror at the future ; now there is no God to meet them in the cool of 
 the day, from the position of man, God in consistency with His jus- 
 tice could wreak no greater punishment upon him. justice compels 
 Him to punish, and more than that He cannot do — besides, God is 
 no tyrant. He delights not in the destruction of His creatures ; from 
 his weakness God had nothing to fear, man was already within His 
 grasp. It was pity to ma.'i that called forth the love of God, for he 
 was an object of loathsomeness, he had no virtue to show, he was 
 naked of everything that .vas good, of everything that was com- 
 mendable. God could receive no honour from being associated with 
 him. His character would rather be sullied than made brighter ,; such 
 was the being whom God loved, and who can describe His affection, 
 — it was love stronger than the love of women. 
 
 3. The intrinsic value of the gift shows the love of God. We 
 have heard of one friend wishing to suffer for another, we have 
 heard of a father wishing to be substituted for a son, and of a son 
 for a father ; but whoever heard of a sovereign substituting his son, 
 his only son for a rebel,bestowing him unasked, and the favour looked 
 upon with contempt ? We have heard of a parent giving his first-born 
 as a mediation for his sin, but we never heard of any giving their 
 
14 WRITINGS AND LIFE OF 
 
 only child for the sins ot their bitterest enemy ; yet the love of God 
 was this, and more than this, it was not only a sovereign but the 
 Sovereign Creator bestowing His son, Hi? only son for a rebellious 
 creature, it was no mean gift, it was the fellow of Jehovah lowering 
 himself to the nature of humanity, it was the word who was in the 
 beginning, who was with God, and who was God, by whom a'l things 
 were created, and apart from whom was not anything made that was 
 made, who was made flesh and tabernacled with us, it was the King 
 of Kings and Lord of Lords, throwing aside His glory and humbling 
 Himself lower than the lowest of His creatures. This was the gift 
 that was bestowed, and when placed in contrast with the object of 
 commiseration, we cannot but admire the loving kindness of the 
 Giver. The one was perishing and deformed, the other was beau- 
 tiful, and language cannot describe His glory, — the one a creature, the 
 other the Creator. Lord, what is man that Thou art mindful of him? 
 Yet God was mindful of him, and He had set His mind upon him ; 
 but could justice and mercy meet, could He forego His character for 
 man, then Satan was the victor. Angels could not atone for Him, they 
 were but creatures, and ^hey, even they, pure though they are, are 
 by the pure God charged with folly ; how then is it to be accomplish- 
 ed? His Son must be mediator, must bare the load of guilt of which 
 man has been guilty ; He that was without imperfection must suffer 
 for transgression ; He must sustain the incalculable wrath of God, in 
 order that He might be just and at the same time the justifier of the 
 ungodly ; the sacrifice was great. 
 
 He was Wisdom whom Jehovah possessed in the beginning of his 
 way, before His works of old who was set up from everlasting, from 
 the beginning or ever the earth was, when there were no depths he was 
 brought forth ; when there were no fountains abounding with water, 
 before the mountains were settled, before the hills were. He brought 
 forth, while as yet He had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the 
 highest part of the dust of the earth ; when He established the clouds 
 above,when He strengthened the fountains of the deep, when He gave 
 to the sea His decree that the waters should not pass His command- 
 ments, when He appointed the foundations of the earth, then was 
 He by Him asone brought up with Him, and He was daily His delight, 
 rejoicing always before Him. Rejoicing in the habitable parts of His 
 earth, and His delights were with the sons of men. Everyone who 
 
WILLIAM BLACK LAWS. IS 
 
 hears this cannot but admire the goodness of God, and must wonder 
 with marvellous astonishment that (iod should thus act. Could any- 
 thing induce Him but love to bestow Jesus Christ upon man, guilty 
 and transgressing man, to cause Him to leave the glory which He 
 enjoyed, to suffer to be abused, to be calumniated, to be suspected 
 of connection with the worker of darkness by the men whom He 
 came to save : ' He, who, being in the form of God, thought it not 
 robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, 
 and took upon tlie form of a servant, and was made in the likeness 
 of men, and beiaig found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself 
 and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." 
 Truly it is worth the honourable designation given to it by the 
 Apostle, " the unspeakeable Gift of God." 
 
 Again, gifts are sent as tokens of constancy and to mark the in- 
 tensity of the affection, so (iod sends His Gift to man, to intimate to 
 him that although he had despised His authority, still He loved him, 
 and a surer token of love was never given. Our finite minds cannot 
 perceive the greatness of the sacrifice that was made when He left 
 the habitations of Glory to dwell with imperfect minds. To think 
 that He who supports the universe should condescend to such acts 
 of humiliation for a creature, is ^bove our comprehension. Angels 
 desired to look into it, but could not understand how He who was 
 the Holy, Holy, Holy, the Lord of Hosts, who filled the whole earth 
 with glcry, could leave His throne and seek to save the lost sheep in 
 the wilderness, to save the wheat like to be destroyed by tares, was 
 to them a wonder and theme of admiration. 
 
 Who can imagine that such a gift could be bestowed with any 
 other intention than the good of the grantee, towards whom God 
 had commended His love, in that while they were yet sinners Christ 
 died for them. 
 
 4. The blessings bequeathed show the sincerity of God toward 
 man.' These blessings are here promised under the title "eternal 
 life." It is not life for a definite period that is promised, but for an 
 indefinite. Nothing less than eternity itself does God offer, and the 
 terms upon which He offers it are equally favourable to man, " he 
 that believeth should not perish but have everlasting life." 
 
 I. The thing promised — eternal life. Life is the very opposite of 
 death. When tlie body is dead it is a mass of inanimate matter, it 
 
l6 WRITINGS AND LIFE OF * 
 
 is Utterly unfit for performing any action within or without the body, 
 and the actions of living persons around it make no impression upon 
 it. The tenderest voice of affection will not arouse it into activity, 
 its senses are completely destroyed, hatred and love are both alike 
 to it, affection and contempt are alike unheeded, and the whole 
 frame is one mass of corruption, loathsome to the living eye which 
 turns from it filled with horror. Such is the effect of death 
 when it attacks the physical frame, and spiritual death, which all 
 men are presupposed to be lying under, is not less effectual in its 
 operations. The fall did not only bring a'ong with it condign punish- 
 ment, but it destroyed the whole spiritual energies of man, and these 
 spiritual energies are nothing else but the perfection of nature. 
 That man is not perfect is too evident to require demonstration, that 
 he is dead to every pure thought and every perfect action js a fact 
 that every thinking mind must be acquainted with. The biogra- 
 phers of great men are often grieved that virtue is not the only sub- 
 ject they have to record, proving too true that great minds are not 
 perfect minds. God when He engaged to save the world had not 
 only to avert the punishment, but had to restore man to spiritual per- 
 fection. This is what the sacred writings term '* eternal life." It 
 embodies within it the whole blessings that God can bestow ; it 
 commences in this world, but it is only fully verified in glory. This 
 is what is called being born again, and to be born again is to be pos- 
 sessed of holy desires and pure affections. It is opposite of covet- 
 ousness, which is the parent of all evil ; it produces pride, and pride 
 generates selfishness, and from these arise the whole calamities of 
 the human family in this life and the life to come. But he who is born 
 again is divested of all such feelings. The Spirit of God breathes 
 upon himj and says to his dead affections : " Live.'' He restores 
 within him spiritual animation and conformity to God. He destroys 
 that hatred to holiness which original sin produced, and makes him 
 to delight in it, and he is now in possession of peace of mind to 
 which he was formerly a stranger. The moment a sinner believes 
 that God so loved the world as to give His only begotten Son to die 
 for it, this state begins, and it progresses until death ushers him into 
 eternal glory and perfection. Sin is no longer pleasant, and if he 
 errs, he does what he would not do, then it is no more he who does 
 it, but sin that dwelleih in him. He mourns that in his flesh dwell- 
 
WILLIAM BLACK LAWS. Z7 
 
 eth nu good thing, but he looks forward to that time when death 
 shall be swallowed up in victory. 
 
 The Spirit not only purifies but enlarges his knowledge of God. 
 Formerly he was ignorant of God, but now he knows Him, — knows 
 Him not only as the avenger of evil, but as his Saviour in whom he 
 trusted. The character of God to him is now more fully developed, 
 his knowledge of the evil of sin is greatly augmented, and he pro- 
 gresses in the knowledge of holiness by the Holy Spirit's influence 
 upon his mi«d, the Iruit of which is beautifully described by the 
 Apostle Paul as being love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, 
 goodness, faith, meekness and temperance. Without the Spirit's sane • 
 tification man could not enjoy Heaven, he could not be an heir with 
 God nor a joint heir with Chrfst ; in fine, it is the Spirit who gives 
 him a new heart and inclines him to accept the Saviour which God has 
 provided for him, who will deliver him from the condition of sin and 
 misery into which he is by nature, and bestow upon him eternal life, 
 which consists in likeness to God Himself, and cannot be enjoyed 
 without Him, a life that shall never have an end, and they shall be 
 forever with God, those who enjoy it, possessing eternal felicity. 
 Thus we see God has loved us with an everlasting love, for no 
 being could offer such a gift and be interested by other motives 
 than that of love ; but 
 
 2. The terms upon which man is to enjov this eternal life, viz : — 
 faith in the Son of God. The position in wiiich man placed himself 
 rendered him totally unfit to save himself; he could do nothing, not 
 even think a good thought, not perform a good action, there fore his 
 salvation is entirely of grace, free sovereign grace. All he has to do 
 is only to accept of the proffers of deliverance procured for him, his 
 redemption money is paid, and he has only to enjoy his liberty. The 
 slave who receives his emancipation from his lord gratuitously has 
 no honour in the procuring of that freedom, so man has no hand in 
 his salvation by believing in Christ as his saviour from eternal death. 
 It is the Son of God who alone makes us free, and if we re made 
 free by Him we shall be free indeed. A feast has been prepared 
 for us and we are invited to partake, but the Host has the whole 
 honour in procuring the entertainment. The man in the Gospel, 
 whom our Saviour cured of the withered hand, had only to stretch 
 it out when Christ commanded him, and it was immediately made 
 
 B 
 
l8 WRITINGS AND LIFE OF 
 
 whole as ihc other. Before that the muscles were contracted, it had 
 no nervous sensation and its feelings were completely dead ; but no 
 sooner did the order issue from the mouth of the Saviour, *' Stretch 
 out thy hand," thah the man was possessed of power and inclination 
 to comply with the request. So man dead to holiness, withered and 
 inefficient to perform the duties which God requires of him, unable 
 and unwilling to answer the purpose for which he was created, viz : 
 — to glorify and enjoy (iod, no sooner does he hear the word of 
 mercy, accompanied by the Spirit,proclaimed, that reason tells him he 
 ought to accept of the offer. Such is the fitness and freeness of the 
 Gospel. Man has only to depend upon Christ, to trust in Him as able 
 to satisfy the demands of God's law, fully to rely upon Him as able 
 to keep him from all harm and that fte shall secure for Htm eternal 
 happiness. God has made no reserve; He intimates toall and declares, 
 "Ho! every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that 
 hath no money come ye buy and eat ; yea, come buy wine and milk 
 without money and without price. Wherefore do ye spend your 
 money for that which is not bread and your labour for that which 
 satisfieth not ? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is 
 good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. Incline your ear 
 and come unto me, hear and your soul shall live, and I will make an 
 everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of Da\/id. 
 Behold ! I have given him for a witness to the people, a leader and 
 commander to the people. Behold I thou shah call a nation that thou 
 knowest not, and nations that knew not thee shall run unto thee 
 because of the Lord thy God, and for the Holy One of Israel, for He 
 hath glorified thee. Seek ye the Lord while He may be found ; call 
 ye upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and 
 the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, 
 and he will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for he will abund- 
 antly pardon, etc." Nothing could be more free than this, no prepa- 
 ration is required ; come, is the whole request, come and place your 
 confidence upon that foundation which God has laid in Zion, for he 
 who trusts in Him shall not be ashamed nor make haste. These are- 
 the terms upon which God offers man reinstatement into His favour, 
 and when we look at them where is the advantage which God can 
 derive from them ? They are evidently framed for the good of man ; 
 no aggrandizement can accrue to God ^rom such a bargain, for He is 
 
WILLIAM BLACK LAWS. ^ 1 9 
 
 already glorious in himself and cannot be more glorious than what 
 He is. It is therefore ttue, and it is impossible for anyone lo deny the 
 truth, that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten 
 Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish but have 
 everlasting life. 
 
 In conclusion : — It has now been shown that God's motive for 
 saving man is love, and this has been deduced from V s nature, the 
 position of man, the value of the gift, and the advantage which it 
 bestows. It has been shown that God is merciful, but at the same 
 time just and perfect. Two cannot walk together except they be 
 agreed, and the v/ay by which agreement between God and man can 
 be effected has been pointed out, that it is by faith in Jesus Christ,, 
 trusting iu Him alone for salvation from sin and its eternal conse- 
 quences, those who now reject the offers of salvation will find that 
 they cannot -escape a fearful retribution. Now is the day of 
 salvation, now is the accepted time, and while God is prolonging 
 our existence, every opportunity we neglect will be to our fearful 
 condemnation. This is a subject of great importance and not to 
 be passed over slightly, for a.s sure as we exist, so sure is it that 
 every word of God is pure and all shall be fulfilled. It is the 
 duty therefore of all to accept of this free pardon now, for we know 
 not what shall be on the morrow, death comes at all times and at 
 all seasons, our breath is in our nostrils, while we are in life, in ' 
 health, in soundness of mind to give our attention to this impor- 
 tant matter. Did God make us only for a short time that we might 
 eat and drink and please ourselves, satisfying our selfish desires 
 and then pass into nonentity and be as though we never had been ? 
 Was earth made for man in order to accomplish this merely ? Is 
 it srili continued only for this end ? No, we were appointed by 
 Cod for nobler purposes, and though Adam, our progenitor, failed, 
 and we through Him are all in the same condition, for who can 
 bring a clean thing out of an unclean ? But now since God has so 
 loved us as to devise our escape from such an awful destruction, if 
 we neglect to embrace it, our damnation will be fearful. The sen- 
 tence, the fearful sentence must pass upon us, " Depart from me, 
 ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels, 
 for I know you not ! " 
 
20 WRITINGS AND LIFE OK 
 
 8KRMON, John xIx-^o. 
 
 TeTeXea-rai. 
 
 To the christian, the last saying of his Lord and Saviour must be 
 a matter of some importance and interest. With Jesus there was 
 nothing superfluous and notliing deficient. When He spoke. He 
 had a purpose in so doing, and His speech was always with grace. 
 To convey instruction must have been His object at this time ; the 
 position which He was placed in lead us to this conclusion, and it 
 is my intention to bring it before our minds in that light, so that 
 our souls may be influenced thereby and filled with veneration of 
 the character of Jesus. But before entering upon its consideration, 
 allow me to present to your notice certain conclusions to which 
 all men in all ages and countries have, by their behaviour, practice 
 and history, given their consent. 
 
 (i) Men in all ages by their history and practice have held that 
 there is a Supreme Being governing this world and to whom we are 
 responsible ; 
 
 (2) Man by his practice in all ages has held the doctrine that ae 
 is at variance with that Supreme Being ; 
 
 (3) That there is a desire in man for a reconciliation ; and 
 
 (4) That there is a future existence of rewards and punishments, 
 and that the present is probationary. 
 
 That all men have held these four conclusions there can be no 
 doubt ; even those who in modern times have had the boldness to 
 avow the contrary have nevertheless by their practice asserted 
 that they consent to them, and that the force of circumstarces is 
 such that they cannot help themselves. As to the first, we do 
 always in the history of tribes and r?ces of man find that their rites 
 in worship constitute no inconsiderable portion of their history. 
 Worship itself confesses to a supremacy, or why do they worship ? I 
 am not discussing what is true or false worship, but merely showing 
 that man in all ages has had an object of worship. As to the 
 second, viz : — that man is at varianc with his deity real or sup- 
 posed, we have only to point to the practice of men in all ages 
 offering up sacrifices. What is a sacrifice ? Is it not giving up 
 
WILLIAM BLACK LAWS. 21 
 
 something valuable to destruction as an appeasement to that exist- 
 ence, that Being which we call God, against whom we have sinned, 
 and who is pouring out upon us temporal, anticipatoiy of eternal, 
 punishments. As to the third, all nations of men have with great 
 anxiety performed their religious rites so as to appease the object 
 of their worship that they might have present and future bliss. As 
 to the fourth, I have only to ask the que?tion of the diligent stu- 
 dent of history, and he will reply that not a nation yet ever existed 
 that did not believe in a future life of rewards and punishments. 
 Such a doctrine has stimulated warriors amongst half civilized 
 nations to do deeds of daring almost impossible for man to per- 
 form, and however ridiculous some of these actions may have been, 
 they nevertheless illustrate the fact that man universally believes he 
 has a life hereafter. 
 
 These observations I have made to show that the Christian reli- 
 gion is not inconsistent with the received opinions of man — man in 
 all ages— man civilized and man as a savage. As to the nature (if 
 the Being who is God, n^n are divided in opinion ; as to the nature 
 and extent of the di/Terej ce between Clod and man, men are also 
 divided ; as to the w.-^y in which a reconciliation ought to be effected, 
 men are also divided ; and as to the kind oi" future life man is to 
 enjoy, men are also divided; but as to the facts themselves, they all 
 agree. Seeing then thai these are matters indisputable, ought we to 
 look upon them with ca.ftless indifference, or inquire into them 
 with earnest and serious ai^r^ntioi. ? They are matters that affect 
 every man individually, and vvhatcver does so it is surely his inter- 
 est to examine attentively. R< g rding these four subjects which 1 
 have stated to you, in different ages of our history, various plans 
 and systems of human origin have been promulgated respecting 
 them ; but in my opinion, the only true definition of Uiese impor- 
 tant matters is to be found in *hc Bible and only there, and I 
 think these matters are fully solved in the last saying of our Saviour 
 on the cross : *' It is finished." What is it that is finished ? the four 
 following <^bservations, in my opinion, are the answer to this ques- 
 tion, and teaches us that : 
 
 1. A full, proper and suitable propitiation has been made for sin, 
 a sin-ofTering has been finished. 
 
 2. A reconciliation between God and man has been Mnished. 
 
aa WRITINGS AND LIFE OK 
 
 3. A victory over the devil has been finished. 
 
 4. A denxonstration that. God is Truth and Love has been 
 finished. 
 
 It teaches us that : ^ 
 
 I. A full, proper and suitable propitiation for sin, or a sin-offer- 
 ing, has been finished. Of the necessity of a propitiation, I think 
 there can be no doubt, for all men by their practice in a religious 
 point of view have proclaimed themselves sinners. What is sin ? 
 Sin is a lawless act, and, according to the Bible, reaches beyond the 
 acts of men and is extended to the thoughts. The nature of the 
 crime declares the nature of the reparation ; otherwise justice still 
 makes its demands. The character of the criminal must also be 
 taken into consideration, otherwise the sacrifice would be imperfect. 
 Man is a rational being composed of a material body and a living 
 soul. We are told that all the evils which man is afflicted with and 
 has to endure, both mental and physical, arise from disobedience 
 to his Creator. Is this right ? Is it just that God should demand 
 from His creature, man, a full and a perfect obedience, that he 
 should implicitly obey, — nay, that it should be his delight to serve 
 God, and if not, be a sinner. Let us look at the question in refer, 
 ence to ourselves as the origin of existences. A mechanic makes a 
 machine, and what does he make it for, the glory of the machine or 
 hiu own glory and advantage? Men make instruments, but it is 
 aKays for their own use and profit ; and so much so is this the 
 case, that they endeavour to hinder other men from using them unless 
 they are remunerated for the invention. Why then do wicked men 
 object to God for making His creatures for His own glory? Apd 
 because they have become vessels of dishonour, why do they deny 
 God's right to punish them? Their own practice is against this 
 doctrine, and by that practice they declare man is legally bound to 
 obey God. If so, then man is entitled to make ample recompense 
 to His holy Creator for failing to do what he had a right to perform. 
 Will the creatuie dare to dictate to the Creator ? All men know 
 that they are sinners, that is, they do in their thoughts and deeds, 
 lawlessness. What then must be the nature and character of the 
 offering to be made for this sin, r<-paration of injuries done by man 
 to his God? Will the life of a valuable irrational animal be 
 enough ? Let us look at the question. The animal is innocent in 
 
WILLIAM BLACK LAWS. ' 23 
 
 SO far as mental sin is concerned, because it never had reason, its 
 acts are merely instinctive j but the sinner l-.as will, and the crimes 
 \vere willingly done, therefore the offering is incomplete. Would the 
 innocent offspring of man then be sufficient ? Man, however young, 
 is depraved, and the Bible says, shall I give the fruit of my body 
 for the sin of my soul ? The thing is absurd and ridiculous. If I 
 cannot atone, how can my offspring atone ? is a question that might 
 well be put. The offering then must be a perfect rational being, 
 whose life mus* be devoted to destruction — the life of a perfect man 
 is what the law demands — not the life of an angel, for he is a 
 spirit — nor of an animal, for he is devoid of reason, but man with a 
 true body and a reasonable soul, free from all imperfection — and 
 who willingly offers himself as the representative of guilty man. 
 Such a victim we find in the character of Him who on the cross 
 exclaimed wit'i His dying lips : " It is finished !" 
 
 Let us examine His recorded life, that we may find the proof ot 
 what I have stated. Jesus of Nazareth was born of a woman, and 
 had therefore the nature of a woman, and was the seed of the 
 woman, and took the title of son of man ; but while He was the son 
 of man, He was also the Son of God. He was not created. He was 
 generated ; He was begotten, not made, and was called the only 
 begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth ; the eternal word 
 that was made flesh and dwelt in us. The Angel said unto His 
 mother before His birih, " The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and 
 the power of the Highesl shall overshadow thee, therefore also 
 that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son 
 of God." 
 
 In His intercourse with man He exhibi«^ed a perfect character both 
 in thought and action. In the s'l ole and unadorned history which 
 we have of His life, written by four of His followers, and evidently 
 true, we see Him to be man and more than man. We see it in the 
 instances that are recorded of His being weary, hungry and sleepy, 
 having joy and grief such as man would express. He seems also 
 to have had great sympathy for man— not a sympathy to create for 
 Himself a name, but a deep feeling of pity for fallen humanity, for 
 He relieved many of our race of those fearful maladies with which 
 they were afflicted, in secret, and enjoined silence upon the recip- 
 ients of His favours, as to how and where they were cured. 
 
24 WRITINGS AND LIFE OF 
 
 In His public discourses He spoke of Himself as connected with 
 cur race, and looked upon all men as His near and dear relations 
 who performed the will of the Divine Being. To convince our- 
 selves that He was a perfect man, we have only to examine His 
 actions as recorded, and it is perfectly evident from the simplicity 
 with which the narrative is given that it is true, and history confirms 
 this truth, besides, the parties who wrote had no fame or advantage 
 to gain, except a premature grave ; and, furthermore, to prove the 
 truth of the life of Jesus, and that he was the Christ, the Messiah of 
 the Prophets, history tells us that His doctrines were embraced not 
 merely by numbers of Jews, but by multitudes throughout the 
 whole world which at that lime existed. Men ot rank and intelli- 
 gence became Christians ; even members of the household of the 
 Roman Emperor embraced His faith, and which they did at the 
 risk of being at any moment of their life immolated for following 
 Jesus. These men had every means at hand for detecting impos- 
 ture ; their prejudices were against such holy doctrines : but in spite 
 of every opposition they adhered to them with great tenacity. His- 
 tory also tells us that no military or political power was brought to 
 bear upon ihose who received the opinions of Jesus, but only the 
 simple preaching of His doctrines, the mere telling of His story. 
 Then let us hear that story, what it says. The whole of that 
 story goes to prove that in His words and actions He was blameless. 
 He Himself appealed to the Jews and asked them : " Which of you 
 convinceth me of sin?" Mark tells us that the multitude were aston- 
 ished beyond measure, saying: "He hath done all things well; He 
 maketh both the deaf to hear and the dumb to speak." Those who 
 impartially read the account that is given of those plots which the Jews 
 laid to entrap Him cannot but be astonished at the way in which He 
 acquitted Himself by thewisdom of His answers ; even His enemies 
 themselves had to acknowledge His superiority, and they exclaimed 
 in envy: "Whence hath this man this wisdom and this learning?" They 
 pointed to his parental origin, and it was mean ; His supposed father 
 was a carpenter, and his loother had no title prefixed to her name, 
 she was only Mary, and otv^e • relations were like Himself poor and 
 obscure, whence then th isdom and these mighty works ? Learn- 
 ing and intercourse with polite society generally so influences the 
 character, that it tends to polish it ; but this advantage according, to 
 
williAm black laws. 25 
 
 history, Jesus did not enjoy ; even His followers were illiterate men ; 
 but yet such were His requirements that He far surpassed the learned 
 men of that day. If we again look at His teaching we will hear what 
 His enemies say concerning it. 
 
 The officers who were sent to apprehend Him by the authority of 
 priest and Pharisees gave their report, stating that never man 
 spake like this man. (John vii. 46.) Such was the effect of His 
 doctrine upon their minds that they were paralysed and could not 
 take Him into custody. His morality was so pure that no teacher 
 had every enjoined such precepts. He talked of the sins of the heart 
 and the transgressions of the thoughts, evidently showing His own 
 perfection. Such was Jesus of Nazareth as a man and as a teacher ; 
 every incident of His life proves the perfection of His character. 
 
 I have yet one ordeal to urge upon your attention, and which 
 Jesus underwent, and it deUm ites His fitness to be a propitiation for 
 sin. Sacrifice signifies slaughter, destruction, pain and punishment 
 for crime. To endure this purely and perfectly is beyond the ability 
 of common men. There must be no murmuring nor reflection upon 
 the character of him who inflicts the punishment, not the most dis- 
 tant insinuation as to the severity of that punishment. On this 
 point Christians can point with triumph to the Captain of their salv- 
 ation, and can tell that He was made perfe*.*^ through sufferings. 
 Like the gold in the refining pot, the stronger the fire the purer the 
 metal. The sufferings of Jesus were intense, the more so that He 
 knew the depths of iniquity and the purity of holiness. His agony 
 in the garden shewed the struggle that was in His mind when the 
 physical frame was so affected that His sweat was, as it were, great 
 drops of blood ; and His language on that memorable occasion indi- 
 cated the severity of sufferings as well as His sense of justice, 
 " Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me ; nevertheless, not 
 my will but thine be done," and the history tells us that an angel 
 appeared from heaven strengthening Him. History tells us that in 
 the Eastern nations, when sovereigns are displeased with ofiicers of 
 State, and whom they think deserve death, these sovereigns dispatch a 
 royal messenger with a poisoned cup which they must drink. Whe- 
 ther our Saviour alludes to this practice or not, I cannot say, but it 
 seems likely, and it certainly illustrates the subject. The cup wi.ich 
 our Saviour had to drink was no doubt poisoned with sin, the efiect 
 of which is death. 
 
26 WRITINGS AND LIEE OF 
 
 The Other suiTerings of our Saviour were severe. His disciples 
 forsook him and fled, one betrayed Him, while another f' lied Him 
 with cursing and swearing. An ordinary mind would wave sunk 
 under this, but Jesus shewed Himself invincible. His trial was a 
 burlesque upon justice, a mere whim, and even then His enemies 
 could find in Him nothing worthy of death. Pilate condemned Him, 
 not because there was evidence of his guilt, for he had declared the 
 reverse, but to please the priests and the people who had been 
 urged on by the priests to demand His death. The cruel and indig- 
 nant treatment which He received at the hands of the Roman soldiers 
 and the people was borne by him with meekness and patience and 
 holy submissiveness ; and in the midst of excruciating pain His feel- 
 ings were touched very tenderly as to the pfisition of His mother. 
 But His relations did not exclusively occtrpy hi^-tlioughts ; glory be 
 to His holy name, He prayed for His enemes. Those who hold in de- 
 rision the character of Jesus would better begin, before they say too 
 much, by trying to imitate this part of His conduct. The maxim is 
 beautiful when all is harmony and J^eace, " Loveyourenemies, bless 
 them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for 
 them which despitefully use you and persecute you . " But try its 
 operation when smarting under injuries undeservedly inflcted. 
 Universally, mankind calls for imprecations instead of blessings, 
 bestows revenge instead of kindness ; but herein this act of Jesus 
 we see the Divine nature shining forth with resplendent glory. 
 
 In this summary view I have given you of the life and suffer- 
 ings of Jesus, I ask you with all seriousness, is He fit to be a propi- 
 tiation for your sins to inflexible justice? I have proved to you 
 that He was man, a perfect man, havirg never sinned, neither in 
 thought, word or act ; that He maintained that character in every 
 condition or state in which He was placed. The subject is worth 
 your consideration, and upon your decision depends your eternal 
 condition. 
 
 2. Reconciliation between God and man " has been finished." 
 By reconciliation 1 mean an agreement with God as to character. 
 That Jesus by His death has procured this reconciliation there can 
 be no doubt. In some parts of our translation of the sacred writ- 
 ings it is called " atonement," Vv'hich etymologists have thought has 
 its origin in the words " at one," and the terminaiion " ment " 
 
WILLIAM BLACK LAWS. 2? 
 
 which means state, and accordingly signifies the state of being at 
 one, or ^we might call it at-one-ment. Adam is considered the 
 representative of our race, and from his nature w^ hive our nature. 
 The Bible therefore teaches us that as in Adam all sinned, in Adam 
 all die, death being the consequence of sin ; but the Bible also 
 teaches us that Jesus is the representative of the redeemed, therefore 
 if He was just and satisfied for sin and lived, those w^o are redeem- 
 ed by Him have His righteousness imputed unto them, and also live. 
 When we use the term blood we mean life, and the penalty for 
 murder is expressed in these words, " Whoso sheddeth man's blood 
 by man shall his blood be shed." The man who designs to murder 
 another man is distinctly at variance with Him, he is not agreed with 
 Him, and in this sense man seeks the life of God, his Sovereign, his 
 Creator. If we had the power, we would dethrone God. Murder 
 is an impure thought founded upon another very impure thought, 
 desire or covetousness. Adam desired or coveted what he was 
 forbidden, and thereby became depraved or morally and mentally 
 unclean. Blood, under the law, purged from all impurities symbo- 
 lically ; the sprinkling of blood and the shedding of blood, under 
 the law, typified the blood of Jesus, and Paul in his epistle to the 
 Hebrews states that the blood of Jesus who offered Himself through 
 the Eternal Spirit purges our conscience from dead works to serve 
 the living God. The man who sees in Jesus a full satisfaction to 
 divine justice is purged. Christ is made unto him sanctification aS 
 well as justification. Figuratively, such a man has been sprinkled 
 by the blood of Jesus and cleansed from all sin. From the moment 
 he gets that view of Jesus, holiness takes possession of his mind, he 
 is loyal to his God, he hates sin and he dies daily to it, and so long 
 as he continues lo be convinced that the work and life of Jesuii was 
 a substitutionary sacrifice for sin, for his sin, he is attaining to the 
 life of holiness. This state of things is called in the Bible " Faith," 
 and through the death of Jesus we obtain Faith; and if any mun be 
 in Christ, he is a new creature, the spirit of God is within him, and 
 God js said for i.ie sake of Jesus to grant faith and repentance unto 
 man. Is this doctrine according to our experience? I think it is, 
 as the following illustration will show. Suppose the subjects of a 
 king act against and wish to overturn his authority and the consti- 
 tution of the nation, and thereby become rebels. The king pro- 
 
38 WRITINGS And life or 
 
 claims an amnesty on certain terras. Convince these men that the 
 constitution is just, that the terms of the amnesty are just, and from 
 that moment they cease to be rebels, they are at one with their king, 
 they are loyal. So it is with God and man. We are sanctified by 
 the Spirit of God in virtue of the death of Jesus opening the eyes of 
 our understanding to see that God is just and we sinners. In our 
 Lord's address at the institution of the communion, He beautifully 
 teaches this doctrine. (John xvi. 7) " Nevertheless I tell you the 
 truth," etc., to the 12th verse. See also Titus ii. 14. 
 
 3. The victory over the devil " has been finished." 
 
 The great enemy of man is the devil. He is the author of all 
 evil, and great is the influence which he has upon our race yet. 
 Some men are so bold as to assert that the devil is an imaginary 
 being. The proof of the existence of rinyone is either his ap]:>ear- 
 ance or his works. The devil is an evil spirit, and \ve being mate- 
 rial beings cannot see him, but his influences an;? perceptible to 
 every human mind. The proof of the existence of tlod is just what 
 the Bible says : " The heavens declare the glory of God and the 
 firmament sheweth His handiwork," so the works of the devil are 
 equally manifest. The Bible says concerning him, that he leads 
 men in a snare captive, and does with them whatsoever he wills. 
 (2 Tim. ii. 26.) Is anyone at a loss as to the existence of the devil, 
 just let him examine his own heart and he will find his influence 
 there. That man is obtuse to all holiness who denies the existence 
 of the devil. Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 
 iii. 8), and it was foi this great purpose that God manifested His 
 Son. 
 
 As to the field of operation which he occupies, the Apostle Paul 
 tells us, and I think our experience will confess to his testimony, 
 that " he is the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now 
 worketh in the children of disobedience." (Eph. ii. 2.) Our 
 Saviour describes him as the father of lies and a murderer (John 
 viii. 44), and John, in his first epistle, states that every one that 
 committeth sin is of the devil. 
 
 Now, of the works of the devil we have innumerable examples. 
 Just look at the criminal calendar of the nations, look at the prac- 
 tices of the majority of men in their envyings, murders, drunkenness 
 and revellings, or, as they are now called, balls ; and in all these we 
 
WILLIAM BLACK LAWS. 29 
 
 see the works of the devil. In such cases he only suggests, and his 
 willing subjects soon perform, they quickly execute his will. But 
 it is not always in dens of wickedness where he labours ; in the 
 heart of the hypocrite he has peculiar delight, and there he performs 
 double work. 
 
 The devil is a creature, and therefore finite ; but he has his angels 
 or messengers all anxious to destroy man. The devil cannot force 
 man, but he deceives him ; he ensnares with false descriptions and 
 false results, and then rejoices at the destruction of his dupe. 
 
 To overturn this power, this influence in the world, Jesus hung 
 upon the cross. Can we suppose that it was the dread of dying 
 that made our Saviour in the garden sweat great drops of blood ? 
 Can we think that it was physical pain that caused him to exclaim, 
 " My soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death ? " Other men 
 have died an equally painful death, and such results did not take 
 place. As the devil was to sift Peter, was Jesus, the Master, not 
 also sifted to the utmost extreme? His agents, the Jews and the 
 Romans, urged on by his suggestions, added to the pain of the 
 Saviour, the scourging, the crown of thorns, the indignities offered to 
 His person, the scornful mockery as to His cures and His teaching, 
 the ridicule which all men heaped upon Him all proceeded from the 
 devil blinding the minds of these men, so that they should believe a 
 lie, and act contrary to the evidence placed before them. But in 
 all these circumstances He sinned not ; no temptation could bring 
 him from His throne of holiness. He died, and by His death He 
 overcame the devil, and we also shall triumph through His blood. 
 
 4. A demonstration that God is truth and love " has been 
 finished." 
 
 From the fall of man till the death of Jesus, God by His Prophets, 
 and the legal ceremonies of the law of Moses, proclaimed salvation 
 to man from eternal misery By the Prophets he announced the 
 coming Messiah as their teacher, priest and king. The first promise 
 was to Adam, and certainly the head or power of Satan was bruised, 
 but the heel of the seed of the woman was bruised also on that day 
 when Jesus died. The second promise was to Abraham in these 
 words, " and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed, " 
 and in virtue of this promise the rite of circumcision was instituted, 
 which, rite points to Jesus as being our circumcision — cut off for our 
 
30 WRITINGS AND LIFE OK 
 
 sins. Circumcision gave a title to the possession of the land of 
 Canaan, and Jesus by His being cut off has secured for us the 
 heavenly Canaan. In the Psalms the coming of the Messiah is 
 plainly announced and His sufferings and death foretold, and which 
 the Israelites sang in their Temple service, with the hope of immor- 
 tal glory through the virtue of that sacrifice filling their hearts. The 
 faith of these men was great. It was founded not on the blood of 
 animals but on His blood, of which these animals were the type. 
 Jesus is the Lamb of God, and John the Baptist calls Him so. He 
 was the scapegoat on whose head were placed all our sins, and He 
 carried them off to His grave, the invisible region. Isaiah foretells 
 His character and His reign in language that resemble smore a his- 
 . tory than a prophetic announcejuent. In all this the truth of God 
 has been fulfilled — His truth in the fulfilling of His promises as 
 well as in the asserting of His justice, showing that He hated sin. 
 
 But the love of God has also been exhibited in the death of his 
 Son. The plan was of God, not of man ; its design and its execution 
 were entirely of God. God spared not his own Son, but gave him up 
 for us all ; how shall he not with him also freely gave us all things ? 
 Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that 
 we should be called the sons of God. God so loved the world that 
 he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him 
 shall not perish but have everlasting life. 
 
 In conclusion : — When an architect has designed and reared an 
 elegant and gorgeous edifice, and when it is completed, he surveys 
 the woik of his mind and his hands, and exclaims involuntarily : " It 
 is a finished building." The statesman who, by his wisdom and his 
 intellect, has extended the liberties or alleviated the burdens of his 
 fellow-citizens rejoices in what he has performed. The advocate 
 who, by his brilliant talents, saves an innocent man from a criminal's 
 death feels complacently at his great labours which have been 
 rewarded by a sentence of " not guilty." And the sovereign who 
 emancipates the slaves of his empire, and pays the price of their 
 liberty with gold fiom his treasury, reflects with delight at the joy he 
 has created in the bosoms of these sons of bondage and rejoices in 
 their being enfranchised. The songs of the Israelites were full of 
 the praises of Jehovah when he redeemed them from the land of 
 Egypt, the house of bondage, God, when he made the universe, 
 
WILLIAM KLACK LAWS. 3I 
 
 looked upon all that he had made, and behold it was very good, and 
 the angels of glory sang its praise ; but of all the works, however 
 magnificent, however great, which can be brought under our notice^ 
 the work of redemption surpasses them all. Infinite thought 
 planned it, and Infinite wisdom and omnipotent power completed 
 it. " It is finished " in every sense of the term, and sinful man is 
 secure of eternal glory. Man is not only redeemed from the con- 
 sequences of his sins, but he is redeemed from his sins and the 
 divine nature restored within him. Men wonder at the fortitude of 
 martyrs who have suffered for the faith of Jesus, but those who 
 know the love of the Saviour which passeih knowledge are filled 
 with admiration at their conduct, and rejoice at the power of divine 
 grace. Christians in all ages have sung the praises of the man 
 Jehovah, and other christians now sing his praises, and the song 
 throughout eternity will be " It is finished," worthy is the Lamb 
 that was slain. 
 
 To you who arc christians, you seethe rock upon which you have 
 built. In your trials on earth let this cheer your mind. You know 
 the work of salvation is completed, you feel it is finished, and fin- 
 ished, too, by your elder brother, Jesus, whom ye shall see with your 
 eyes, and not another, and then ye shall be like him in inexpressible 
 brightness. 
 
 To you who are not christians, I invite you to see in Jesus a 
 finished propitiation and reconciliation between you and your God^ 
 a love passing the love of women. Forsake the pleasures of sin, 
 think of the suffering Jesus ; think of his character, the Eternal 
 Wisdom. Think, O think that he who spoke the universe into 
 existence bore your sins on the cursed tree ; he it was who pro- 
 claimed " It is finished." 
 
 SERMON, Acts xx-21. 
 
 The Apostle Paul comprehends the whole of his teaching under 
 two general heads, namely, Repentance and Faith, and he intimates 
 that to all classes and parties, he urged upon their consideratfon the 
 importance of these fundamental doctrines of the religion of Christ. 
 By repentance he held up to their view the standard of character 
 
32 WRITINGS AND LIFE OF 
 
 to which they were to conform, for it was repentance towards God 
 that he insip' .u upon, a refornnation pleasing to him and approxi- 
 mating to his nature and character ; and while he exhorted them to 
 repent, to forsake their sins and to turn to the Lord, he points 
 them to the object by whom all this is to be effected. He tells 
 them that they are to have faith in Christ, thai He is the champion 
 upon whom they are to rely for success, for He is a Prince and a 
 Saviour, whom God hath exalted with His right hand to give repen- 
 tance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. In speaking from this pas- 
 sage I shall 
 
 1. Show what is Evangelical Repentance ; 
 
 2. Explain Faith ; and then, 
 
 3. Show the connection that exists between it and Repentance, 
 
 I. Repentance is a change of sentiment causing regret, rtrnoise 
 and sorrow for past offences, and of such a nature and degree does 
 the soul feel these that it produces renovation of character. This 
 regenerates through the understanding, the will, desires and affec- 
 tions, and completely changes the purpose, bent and inclination of 
 the mind, so that that mind relinquishes what it formerly delighted 
 in, and embraces, relishes and cherishes what it formerly abhorred. 
 
 There are many who regret that they have pursued the line of 
 conduct that they have done, not from any radical change, but froi 1 
 the effects which it has produced. We see many every day debauch- 
 ing their bodies and debilitating them so much that they have made 
 themselves objects for life. When they reflect upon the enjoyments 
 of others, and consider what they themselves might have been had 
 they improved the opportunities they had misimproved, I have not 
 the least doubt but that bitter regret fills their soul, but it is of such 
 a nature that it is not the cause but the effect of imprudence that is 
 the origin of it. Saul, King of Israel, regretted very much that he 
 had not obeyed the command of God in the destruction of the 
 Amalekites, because by not fulfilling his duty he lost forever 10 his 
 progeny the kingdom. But was it deep regret for his sin ? Had it 
 been so, his future conduct would have been quite different from 
 what it was, for he showed no true repentance nor contrition. A 
 child disobeys the command of its parent, and on that account the 
 parent sees meet to restrict its liberties as a punishment for the 
 child's disobedience, and the child frets, vexes and rejgrets that his 
 
WILLIAM BLACK LAWS. 33 
 
 conduct has brought this upon him ; but have we not seen children 
 no sooner freed from their restraint than they were as ready to dis- 
 obey as ever ? Thus we see a repentance may arise from the ulti- 
 mate effect which misconduct produces or from the punishment 
 which violation of the law will lead to without any true change tak- 
 ing place. Cain, when he heard the sentence pronounced against 
 him, how he did regret. Our first parents when they saw their 
 nakedness hid themselves, and could no longer look God in the face, 
 expecting the awful punishment which God had announced would 
 be executed upon them. With what regret and remorse of 
 conscience they were filled ! Judas who betrayed our Lord repent- 
 ed in contemplating that he had betrayed innocent blood, and from 
 the consideration of the awful judgment which such an act deserved 
 he destroyed himself ; but not so the truly penitent ; he regrets 
 \yhat he has done, and he does so from the hatred which he has to 
 the cause of all his misery, namely, his sin. 
 
 One peculiar characteristic of the truly penitent is that he con- 
 fesses his sin. The tn:ly penitent in returning to God his Father 
 falls down and exclaims :'• Father, I have .-inned against Thee and am 
 no niore worthy to be called Thy son, make me as one of thy hired 
 servants. " He seeks not to exculpate himself, for he finds that he 
 only is guilty. He does not only confess that he did wrong, but he 
 also confesses that he was guilty in listening to the seducer as well 
 as to the performing of the seduction. He does not seek to hide 
 one single sni, but spreads them all out before the Lord his Maker 
 and he does so with shame and humiliation. There are some who 
 confess; their sins, and boast that they have done them ; but the re- 
 penting sinner has great shame. Pride is a predominant feature 
 in the human mind, and it is only by rejecting that pride that there 
 can be true repentance. Pride only shows the distance the mind 
 is from God, so that no man can at the same time be in the posses- 
 sion of repentance towards God and boast of his ownqualifications ; 
 it indicates at once the state of the feelings. The penitent, however, 
 feels that he has nothing to be proud of. He beholds himself 
 stripped and naked, bare of all moral holiness ; neither has he any 
 virtuouii action of which he can boast. When he tliinks upon the 
 character which his iniquities have made him, and draws a contrast 
 between himself and the Holy God, it is no wonder that he feels 
 
 c 
 
34 WRITINGS AND LIKE OF 
 
 ashamed. The acts which he has performed likewise augment 
 his shame, and he is humbled to the ground when he sees that his 
 sins have separated him from God, that they have sunk him from 
 the divine presence. 
 
 But, again, he makes an unreserved confession. There are some 
 who confess sin, but who see no use in telling all that they have 
 done ; but not so the Godly penitent. He has no aim but in dis- 
 closing all his misdeeds; hence we find that the Apostle Paul con- 
 fessed with shame and humility and unreservedly declared that he was 
 wicked, a blasphemer, a persecutor and injurious man ; and however 
 great the sum or character of their offences, they seek not to diminish 
 them. Everyone who professes penitence before God, and endeavours 
 to cloak his sins, shows that his mind is very far from being im- 
 pressed with the character of sin, and so far from true repentance, 
 every secret sin and open offence is confessed, he can say with 
 David : " I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord and thou 
 forgavest the iniquity of my sin. " 
 
 Another feature in true repentance is that he has sorrow for his 
 sin. The true penitent sorrows for sin, not so much for the punish- 
 ment he has to expect for impure deeds as for the great evil he has 
 done to the holy and mercitul God. He thinks upon his goodness 
 in creating him in His image, and how that image is now defaced in 
 him. He sees the amount of his sin in the death of Christ, and he 
 feels afflicted and full of bitterness of soul when he knows that it 
 thatwas for that the Son of God was pierced. His body broken and His 
 soul harassed, he there sees the exceeding sinfulness . sin and 
 what '.nly can extinguish it in the sight of God, namely, the death of 
 His only Son. I have read of a son who had offended his father so 
 much that it was necessary for the parent to hide his smiling counte- 
 nance for a season from his child. The child felt it so strongly 
 that he could not sleep nor be at rest till he was reconciled to his 
 father. So the true penitent feels a blank, and that blank can be 
 made up only by God and him being friends, and until that is done 
 he has no rest and his sin is ever before him. 
 
 Another feature in true repentance is that he foresakes his sin. 
 No man can be said to repent who follows still the same path, who 
 delights in the ^anie enjoyments and is gratified by the same acts 
 as formerly, who can laugh at all righteousness and can employ his 
 
WILLIAM RLACK LAWS. 35 
 
 heart and his hands in the same polhited and filthy deeds as before. 
 No ; true repentance creates in the mind detestation and horror at 
 such performances, and he flies from sin in thought, word and deed. 
 If the returning penitent has been guilty of impure thoughts h^ 
 watches every emotion of the mind, and when he feels the tendency 
 of the heart leading in that direction he remembers the injunction of 
 the apostle:*' If ye be risen with Christ, set your affections on things 
 above, not things of the earth." He endeavours in his intercourse 
 with his fellow-men to have his conversation chaste and his deeds 
 guided by uprightness. He endeavours to show to all that the mo- 
 tives by which these are performed are not of aselfish nature but 
 from pure principle, that it is not from love ofapprobation but from 
 his hatred of sin, and regard to the path of rectitude, with his heart 
 and with his hand he flees from it. He does not indulge in a sin- 
 gle sin, he does not with Lot say : " Is it not a little one, spare it and 
 my soul shall live," but his dearest, his choicest sin he renounces, 
 he strives against it, resisting unto blood, he forsakes his sin will- 
 ingly. There are some men who are obliged to forsake sinning 
 because sin forsakes them. Old age arrives, but not a good old age 
 like the father of the faithful, for they delight in sin and are vexed 
 that physical weakness compels them to relinquish their former 
 course of life. Not so the true penitent, for he voluntarily departs 
 from it. He may like David and Peter fall into sin, but he will 
 arise again, proving the truth of the wise man's assertion that the 
 just man shall fall seven times, but risell. ap again. He forsakes 
 his sin sincerely. We find that some men who profess to forsake 
 sin have no intention of doing so, but he who turns to God does so 
 with all his heart. He has counted the cost, and no argument will 
 divert him from his purpose, neither laughter of his fellows nor the 
 sneer of his enemies has any effect. His worldly interests are not 
 consulted, but only the mind of God ; and should he be engaged in 
 an occupation opposite from the path of virtue, he hesitates not one 
 moment, he cuts at once liie tie that binds him to it rather than 
 pollute himself with iniquity. We find that the believers at Ephe- 
 sus exemplified this, for the sacred histor'^u informs us that when 
 they embraced the gospel they brought their books, confessed their 
 wicked deeds, and burnt these evil records, even supposing it was 
 a large sacrifice of worldly property, they did tliis rather than dis- 
 
36 WRITINGS AND LIFE OF 
 
 pose of them to others, thereby proving the sincerity of their inteiv 
 tions. He forsakes his sin resolutely. There are many who are 
 sincere in what they say, yet have not the resolution to put their 
 determination into force. But nothing intimidates the returning 
 sinner filled with sorrow for sin ; seeing its hateful nature, he boldly 
 determines no longer to be its willing subject. He stops his ears 
 to all entreaties both from within and from without, and declares 
 that he is no longer to walk in darkness but to have fellowship with 
 God, The fear of the conflict he has to be engaged in stops him 
 not, the cry of a lion in the way is unheeded. He forsakes with a 
 full determination to do so forever and to be holy. His repentance 
 is not a transient fit, an impulse of the moment raised by surround- 
 ing circumstances, but quite the reverse ; his heart is opposed to him; 
 his companions are opposed to him ; the evil one, whose influence 
 is great, is opposed to him. New obedience, however, has charms 
 for him greater than all these old endeaiments, so that he is not 
 afraid to turn round and face them. The love of God, the paths of 
 holiness are greater inducements than the paths of sin. He longs 
 to be more and more sanctified, and, therefore, hefoisakes all will- 
 ingly, sincerely, resolutely and with a determination to be for God. 
 Another feature in true , repentance is mat he delights in God. 
 The apostle spoke about delighting in the law of God after the in- 
 ward man, and he was grieved that he found another law in his 
 members warring against the law of his mind. There are some 
 Christians whose minds do not appear to have this feature, and who 
 have no pleasure apparently in God or the things of God. No 
 sooner are they away from engaging in the most solemn duties of 
 devotion than they are busy with the world, its aggrandisements^ 
 its pleasures, its prospects, its glory. They speak of their specula- 
 tions with beaming delight while contemplating of cheir probable 
 success. I would say to such professing christians : I fear you have 
 never yet truly repented. I doubt much you are still the servants 
 of sin, that you thus yield your members as instruments of un- 
 righteousness unto sin. Had you truly repented you would have 
 been yielding yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the 
 dead and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. 
 A man who has been long sick, how anxious he is when he has 
 again regained his health to employ it to the best advantage. He 
 
WILLIAM BLACK LAWS. 37 
 
 has no time to spare for idle purposes, he thinks upon what he has 
 already loat, and although he still feels not very strong, he is up and 
 at his work with as much activity as possibly his strength will allow. 
 The apostle here, however, uses a bolder and stronger figure, and 
 asserts that the activity of the christian is the activity of a man 
 made alive from the dead. In deaih the members of the body are 
 unproductive of any benefit, but are quite the reverse, fast hastening 
 to decay and corruption. An individual in such circumstances, and 
 being alive, would not very likely employ his members, his talents 
 and his time for the purpose of bringing his body again to death, 
 would he not rather exert himself to keep alive the principle of life 
 within him, and use every conservative imaginable for the purpose 
 of continuing that life, so does the true penitent. He feels himself 
 newly alive from the death of sin, that his members are not strong, 
 but he is cautious about engaging in exercises likely to bring him 
 back to the same position. He feels the quickening influence, and 
 he is terrified lest he should quench the workings of the Spirit of 
 God. His whole soul enters into the spirit of the Psalmist, and he 
 can say with him in sincerity]: I was glad when they said unto me ' 
 *' Let us go up into the house of the Lord." He seeks God early, his 
 soul thirsteth for Him, his flesh longeth for Him in a dry and thirsty 
 land where there is no water to see His power and His glory, because 
 His loving kindness is better than life his lips shall praise Him. Be- 
 fore proceeding farther, let me ask if this is anything like the exper- 
 ience of those professing christians who now hear me. If it is not, 
 doubt in your own minds the truth of your conversion of your re- 
 turning to the Lord. Better to begin now and to examine into this 
 important matter than defer it to a death-bed. Examine ! examine ! 
 these are true tests which I have brought forward. The true peni- 
 tent has God always upon his mind, like David : he thinks upon 
 him in the watches of the night, his mind is continually dwelling 
 upon him even at his secular occupations, not with slavish fear, for 
 God's service is a pleasant service. There can be no exercise that 
 can tend more to elevate the mind than the contemplation of a per- 
 fect being. Their thoughts being thus engaged in contemplating 
 perfection, their actions must evidently aim at the same both toward 
 themselves and toward their fellow-creatures, hence those who pro- 
 fess repentance unto life show that they have the life of holiness 
 within them. 
 
38 WRITINGS AND LIFE OF 
 
 I have thus endeavoured to show what evangelical repentance is, 
 that it is a change of sentiment producing a change of purpose and 
 disposition and a change of principle. This must necessarily be the 
 case, for every man who acts has a reason for so doing, whether the 
 reason be sound or unsound, or the actions proper or improper, 
 and this reason involves within it a certain prin ".iple and which has 
 a predominancy over his mind ; so the man who repents must have 
 a new principle, a new disposition and a new reason for performing 
 actions so very different from what he was accustomed to do. I 
 have shown this to be the case from the very fact that he '"ho re- 
 pents immediately confesses that what he did formerly was wrong, 
 that he does so with great contrition of mind and sorrow for hav- 
 ing so acted, that he not only confesses that he did wrong, but at 
 once begins to renounce all his former practices, and pursues an 
 opposite course, and that he does so in the face of strong 
 opposition, but he resolutely maintains his path. 
 
 But how is all this to be accomplished ? There Cix\^ be no 
 repentance without conviction. A man must first be convinced 
 that he has done wrong before he will see the necessity of changing 
 his acrions, he must perceive that he is doing evil before he will be 
 led to good. The Scripture tells us that all this is done Vj the 
 Spirit of God, that it is He who convinces the world of >i.i, of 
 righteousness and of judgment, that it is the gift of Christ " whom 
 God hath highly exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour to give repen- 
 tance unto Israel for the remission of sins." And the means 
 which He employs is the foolishness of preaching, calling upon men 
 everywhere to repent and to believe the testimony which God has 
 given concerning Himself, concerning the mode of reconciliation by 
 Jesus Christ. Which leads me to the second thing proposed, 
 viz. : — 
 
 2. To explain Faith. 
 
 Faith is that action of the mind which receives as truth the 
 statements brought before it, relies upon it with confidence fully 
 convinced, and firmly holding that what it declares can be accom- 
 plished, and it does all this upon the bare authority of the assertor. 
 Faith, says the Apostle Paul, is the confidence of things hoped for, 
 the conviction of things not seen. Justifying faith is to trust and 
 confide in Jesus as able to save man from sin and the consequences 
 
WILLIAM BLACK LAWS. 39 
 
 of it. The mind in so acting must necessarily believe the truth of 
 Jesus' mission, for where there is no credence given there can be no 
 confidence or trust exercised, so the sinner who has his mind con- 
 vinced of sin, who perceives his condition as fearful and deplorable, 
 who feels his own weakness and that he can accomplish nothing of 
 himself, he is directed here by the apostle to lean all upon the 
 Saviour. Faith towards Jesus Christ was the docirine he taught 
 and if the minds of men are directed to any other object of confi- 
 dence, t ley will feel awful disappointment when their work comes 
 to be tested. The Scripture declares that all men are evil, desper- 
 ately wicked, thai they are all gone aside, they are all together 
 become filthy, there is none that doeth good, no, not one, and er- 
 perience fully proves what is here affirmed. Every one's mind 
 must tell him that this is truth. The same Scriptures truly declare 
 that God is angry with the wicked, that He will destroy them with 
 an everlasting destruction. The awakened conscience being thus 
 convinced of its sin, seeing its danger and feeling its weakness, 
 Jesus thus becomes its refuge from the awful condemnation sin 
 deserves. Repent and be bapt'sed, said Peter to his audience, on 
 the day of Pentecost, for the remission of sins, whicii was equiva- 
 lent to saying : repent and confide in Christ as able to deliver you 
 from the judgment of God which He has denounced against all 
 iniquity. What is baptism but a symbolical declaration < f i<ur de- 
 pendence upon Christ's finished work both for reconciliation with 
 God and purification from s'n. If the ordinance has not this 
 meaning, what then can it be ? Faith confesses with the mouth the 
 Lord Jesus, and believes with the heart that God raised him from 
 the dead. 'Faith receives Him as the prophet Isrciah has depicted 
 Him, "The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord hath 
 anointed me to preach good tidings to the meek ; He hath sent me 
 to bind the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and 
 the opening of the prison to them that are bound ; to pioclaim the 
 acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God : 
 to comfoit all that mourn ; to appoint unto them that mourn in 
 Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the 
 garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be 
 called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord that He 
 might be glorified." Faith receives Him as the Son of God, and 
 
40 WRITINGS AND LIFE OF 
 
 as such He is its object. Faith must have an object, for there can 
 be no faith without a something to credit ; therefore, the Apostle 
 Pnul here directs the minds of his hearers to Christ as the object of 
 faith, and in doing so he must represent Him as suitable for them 
 in their present necessities. We find that the Scriptures present 
 Him to sinners as the great Prophet that was promised, who was to 
 instruct and who was to direct them in all their difficulties, as the 
 High Priest who was to make an atonement for sin, a priest foiever 
 .after the order of Melchizedek, as a king ruling and reigning in the 
 hearts of His people, subduing them unto Himself and defending 
 them from all danger. 
 
 Faith receives Christ as the author of their justification with God. 
 Man awakened beholds himself at enmity with his Maker, he 
 therefore feels distracted and perplexed how he is to act. To live 
 without God he cannot, and how to attain to God in his present 
 circumstances is past his wisdom, but the doctrine of justification 
 by faith alone without works relieves him from his anomalous posi- 
 tion. He sees himself* as utterly unable to work out a salvation of 
 his own, a righteousness pleasing to God, a satisfaction to His holy 
 law, and he views his position with despair till the righteousness of 
 our Lord Jesus Christ is presented to his mind as the object upon 
 whom to rely, as that wh'ch can alone screen him in the day of 
 vengeance of our God. He beholds Him as the great Mediator 
 standing between him and offended law, covering him from all the 
 penalties which law inflicts, and substituting His righteous work as 
 compensation for the guilt of men. He sees Him as only able to 
 perform this mighty effort, and being fully convinced of His power 
 he confides unhesitatingly upon Him. When the Eunuch was asked 
 the nature of his faith, he declared, I believe that Jesus Christ is 
 the Son of God. Phillip was not to be satisfied with anything less, 
 and nothing less would have been true faith. In doing this he 
 confessed the divinity of his character and his ability to make 
 atonement. Those who say that they believe the Gospel and at 
 the same time deny that Jesus is the Son of God are liars and the 
 truth is not in them, for they plainly declare that they have no faith 
 in Him or in His works as being meritorious or expiatory for sin. 
 His life may appear in their minds as beautiful and worthy of imi- 
 tation, and His philanthropic spirit may beheld up by them as that 
 
WILLIAM BLACK LAWS. 4I 
 
 which ought to be imitated, His death as exhibiting great fortitude 
 under pressing and awful circumstances ; but if they do not admit 
 that in all these Jesus was acting officially, their faith is vain, they 
 are yet in their sins. How can it be otherwise ? The foundation 
 of Christianity is destroyed by them, for the success of His media- 
 torshiji depends upon His divinity. It is because that we have a 
 great High Priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus, the Son of 
 God, that the mind has faith or confidence in Him to accomplish 
 their reconciliation with God. It is not Jesus the Son of man, for 
 although He was man really and truly, yet the great characteristic 
 of His qualifications for Mediator was in being divine. Had He 
 been only man, all He did was of no avail, for how perfect soever 
 He might perform His work it was only that of a creature ; He 
 merely saved Himself, and He had nothing over for guilty man. 
 No man can save his brother or pay to God sufficient ransom for 
 it. Saul, when he was converted, preached in all the synagogues 
 of Damascus that Jesus was the Son of God, so imbued was his 
 mind with this great doctrine that it was the continual subject of 
 his discourse and evidently the great object of his faith. 
 It was viewing Him in the character of the equal of Jehovah, the 
 Eternal Word, that He had that peace which arises from justifica- 
 tion by faith. 
 
 Faith not only receives Christ as having made atonement for sin, 
 as having justified, ^but as providing the means whereby they can 
 be received, and made meet to enjoy the presence of God ; the 
 sanctifying influence of the spirit of God is brought into operation 
 upon his mind through Christ the Author and Finisher of his faith. 
 But, again, Faith looks upon Christ as a risen Saviour. It looks 
 upon Him as having burst asunder the bands of death, taking the 
 sting away by having vanquished it. Death :vas the punishment of 
 crime, for the sting of death was sin and the .'«trength of sin is the 
 law ; but thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our 
 Lord Jesus Christ. If the law did not exist there would be no 
 death, for where there is no law there can be no trespass ; but the 
 law of God stares the sinner newly awakened in the face, and he 
 trembles at its force, its power and its determination to have com- 
 pensation to the last. But faith tovards Jesus Christ sets the mind 
 at once at rest, for he views his death as satisfying the law, and the 
 
42 WRITINGS AND LIFE OF 
 
 law being thus made powerless, its sting being taken away, he con- 
 fides upon Christ who rose from the dead as able to raise him ; it 
 was therefore while the Apostle preached to Jews and Gentiles 
 repentance towards God that at the same time he directed them to 
 Jesus Christ as the object of faith who' alone could effectuate their 
 salvation. Having thus described entire dependence alone upon 
 Jesus as able to save from eternal wrath, as able to give us ever- 
 lasting happiness, I shall now show very briefly in the 
 
 3. The connection that subsists between it and the doctrine of 
 Repentance. 
 
 Faith is the effect of repentance, and not as some have asserted, 
 that repentance was the effect of faith. This is a most dangerous 
 and unscriplural doctrine, and, besides, is altogether absurd and 
 opposed to common sense, for how can a man believe another man 
 with whom he is at difference, whose mode of thinking and acting 
 he conceives is more satisfactory than the man's who wishes him 
 to confide in him ? Would a merchant trust one, whom he believes 
 to be a known swindler, with goods to be paid for at a future day ? 
 No ; he must first see and be satisfied of the character of the party 
 before credit can be reposed in him. So it is between man and 
 God. Man believes that God is his .enemy, that his own way o^ 
 attaining happiness is far superior. He believes that God wishes 
 to deprive him of enjoyment by asking the whole of his will and 
 affections. He considers such a condition too servile. He rejects 
 with contempt the doctrine of human depravity, and he cannot 
 brook the idea of the meek and quiet spirit. No ; God is the thought 
 of the natural man, none superior to himself is the engrossing senti- 
 ment of his mind. Can suca a man believe in Christ ? can he see 
 any necessity of a Jesus, of a Saviour or of an atonement ? No ; 
 the carnal mind is enmity against God, it is not subject to the law 
 of God, neither indeed can be. That opposition must be taken 
 away before there can be faith, saving trust in the Saviour for 
 everlasting life. Hence it is that John the Baptist called upon the 
 Jews to repent, and our Saviour commenced His public teaching by 
 proclaiming : " Repent ye and believe the Gospel." Peter on the day 
 of Pentecost did the same: " Repent and be baptised in the name of 
 the Lord Jesus." Paul testified repentance towards God and faith 
 towards our Lord Jesus Christ. John tells us in the beginning of his 
 
WILLIAM BLACK LAWS. 43 
 
 Gospel that our Saviour came unto His own, and His own received 
 Him not ; but as many as received Him unto them gave He power 
 to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name, 
 which were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, but of 
 God. And it was the birth produced by God that caused them to 
 accept of the Saviour. What else could it be, for the Apostle says 
 the natural birth hindered the Jews, and he gives reason why 
 those who received Him do receive Him, namely, because they were 
 born of God, But, further, Paul was known previous to his con- 
 version to be the persecutor of the Christians. After he had seen 
 the Lord in the way, after he had been baptised, calling upon the 
 name of the Lord, he essayed to join himself to Christians/hut they 
 shunned him. They did not believe he was a convert, and their 
 minds required to be changed towards him before they would con- 
 fide in him. . Thus we see that repentance or change of mind pro- 
 duces faith, and not faith repentance. 
 
 I shall now notice some of the products of faith as proving 
 and tescing its sincerity. 
 
 I. Faith produces obedience. Abraham, when he was called of 
 God to leave his father's house and the land of his nativity, imme- 
 diately obeyed ; he did not stop to consult whether it would be 
 advisable for him to do so or not, but without further delay he 
 immediately departed. He sojourned in a land wherein he was a 
 stranger. When God gave to him Isaac, through whom the pro- 
 mised seed was to descend, he considered himself blessed and happy 
 in believing the promises of God and rejoicing in bright prospect of 
 all nations being blessed in him ; but when God tested his faith, and 
 commanded him to sacrifice his son upon the altar, he as readily 
 obeyed as before. He knew God, he confided in Him, and he was 
 aware of the infinite character and wisdom of Him in whom he 
 believed. So it is yet, — those who believe God are ready to obey 
 Him in all the duties which He has commanded, whether it be reli- 
 gious or secular duties, he is ready to comply. Hence we find that 
 the first Christians who believed were baptised and added to the 
 Lord, that they were continually praying and praising God, that 
 they had love to all who loved their Lord and Saviour, and in fine 
 they exhibited in their life great regard to the new commandment 
 which Christ left His disciples : " By this shall all men know that ye 
 
44 WRITINGS AND LIFE OF 
 
 are my disciples, if ye love one another," and not only is it an obedi- 
 ence, but it is an active obedience. Saul of Tarsus, when reproved by 
 our Lord for his persecutions against him, exclaims : " Lord, what wilt 
 thou have me to do?" He who had been possessed with the legion 
 of devils went and published through ten cities, that is Decapolis, 
 what great things Jesus had done for him. The jailor of Phillipi no 
 sooner believed, than he administered acts of kindness to the 
 apostles, and was greatly exhilarated with all his house. Lydia 
 declared if they considered her faithful, they were to come into her 
 house and abide. And in the present day there are many speci- 
 mens of the power of faith, proving that the hand and the heart go 
 always together, and that a man cann ii have faith in Christ and 
 produce actions quite the reverse from the nature and character of 
 Him whom they profess to believe, 
 
 2. Faith produces perseverance. The Christian may have little pros- 
 pect of a bright nature often before him, conflicts from within, 
 conflicts from without greatly harass him, yet still he is unshaken in 
 his principle, no threat can make him swerve, nothing can bribe him 
 from his allegiance. He knows whom he has trusted, that his God 
 is in the Heavens ; and although he might not be able to distinguish 
 or to discern the cause of his present tro'ible, he is persuaded that 
 it is all for good, and that his God will not forsake him is the full 
 and unalterable conviction of his mind ; no difficulty is too great 
 for him, he surmounts it all ; no shame will intimidate him. He will 
 not be bribed to forsake his Saviour by the glittering crown nor 
 forced to deny him by the threats of a burning stake. 
 
 3. Faith produces hope. The believer glories in tribulation. 
 Strange for a man to be glad in affliction, but he does so, knowing 
 that tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience, and expe- 
 rience hope. And his hope is a noble hope : a hope of the glory 
 of God ; a hope of seeing Christ, of not only seeing Him, but being 
 made like Him ; a hope of being the son of God, a hope of being 
 seated on the right hand of the Judge of the quick and dead. 
 Wonder not then why the Christian should endure hardships, why 
 he should hope, believe in hope, why he should consider all but 
 loss and dung for the knowledge of God His Saviour, why He 
 should consider himself as a stranger and pilgrim, why he should 
 not fear death nor the destruction. It is faith — the faith that he 
 shall yet be an heir and joint-heir with Christ Jesus. 
 
WILLIAM BLACK LAWS. 45 
 
 Thus we see that faith is the hands, feet and eyes of the Chris- 
 tian. That by faith He holds Christ as able to sustain him, that by 
 faith he stands amidst terrors and death unshaken, that by faith he 
 looks forward to the enjoyment of the purchased possession in 
 light when the present is not worthy to be compared with the glory 
 that shall be hereafter revealed. 
 
 To you who have embraced Christ and His salvation, what com- 
 fort and consolation these two great doctrine, yield. If you are 
 dispirited, here is what will gladden you,— the example of apostles 
 and prophets. It leads you to see Jesus as the author and finisher 
 of your faith ; you see in it not your own strength, but the strength 
 of God, that strength which no arm can overthrow. 
 
 To you who are still in unbelief, let me entreat you to repent and 
 believe the Gospel. Grieve not the Spirit of God, check not His 
 influence while He convinces you of sin, listen to His reasoning, say 
 not it is too soon, remember God delights not in old age repen- 
 tance,— besides, it is dangerous. Your life is in your lip, you 
 mortal dying creatures. God may this night require your soul of 
 you, and do you think you are prepared to meet Him ? There- 
 fore repent ere it be too late and believe the Gospel. Amen. 
 
 SERIVION. 
 
 (/ suppose this to be from ROMANS III—t.b.u) 
 
 The inspired Apostle in the former part of this epistle charges 
 the whole human family with imperfection and impurity ; that in 
 thought, speech and action they have departed from the path 3f 
 rectitude and holiness; that they are non-conformers and trans- 
 gressors of God's holy law — and in consequence of this they are 
 liable to the awful punishment which the Immaculate Sovereign, 
 Ruler of the universe, has pronounced against those who so act. 
 He declares that all parties are guilty ; that none can plead inno- 
 cent of the selfish and depraved feelings by which they are actuated ; 
 and that they are rebels, self-condemned, their own consciences wit- 
 
46 WRITINGS ANb LIFE OF 
 
 nessing against them. Not only is this the condition of those who 
 have never been favoured with a revelation from God, but likewise of 
 those who have been so favoured, and that both Jew and Gentile are 
 equally liable to the vengeance of the eternal God. How to atone 
 for past offences and how to attain the state of eternal felicity and 
 the full enjoyment of unmixed pleasure, and so avoid this awful 
 retribution due for sin, are interesting questions and deserve our 
 serious consideration. The whole race of man are agreed upon 
 the necessity of an atonement, for every nation has its deity (or 
 object of worship) and its appeasing sacrifices ; but the manner in 
 which it is to be made, and the character of the sacrifice as well as 
 the being to whom it is to be presented, are matters of great dispute. 
 The Gentile has one mode and the Jew has another ; but the falsity 
 of both are beautifully brought before us in the passage now under 
 consideration. 
 
 In this passage we lave the following assertions : — 
 
 1. That the law cannot of itself justify. 
 
 2. That the only justification which can deliver us is God's justi- 
 fication, apart from all human effort whatever. 
 
 3. That it is a justification able to atone for the sins of the whole 
 human family, and that all require it. 
 
 4. It is freely offered to all, none are excluded from participating 
 in its privileges and blessings. 
 
 5. That only those who by faith receive Christ as the basis of 
 their hope of reconciliation and acceptance with God are benefited. 
 
 6. That it is a justification maintaining God's integrity. 
 
 Such arc the topics brought before us, and in illustrating them 
 may we be guided by the Eternal Spirit, that in all we do God may 
 be glorified. 
 
 I. That the law cannot of itself justify. In the twentieth verse 
 this is distinctly intimated, *' Therefore by the deeds of the law there 
 shall no flesh be justified in his sight." ]}y the law we are to under- 
 stand both its moral and' ceremonial precepts, not the one from the 
 other, but both are included. The sacred writers never speak of 
 the moral law or the ceremonial law, but of the law as a whole, 
 including those precepts that teach us our duty either to God or 
 man, as well as those that are given for directing the public worship, 
 rites and purifications. The only grounds upon which any person 
 
WILLIAM BLACK LAWS. 47 
 
 by law can claim justification is by performing all its stipulations, 
 " for not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers 
 of the law shall be justified," says the Apostle in the previous part 
 of this epistle. Such a justification would be one of right, not of 
 favour ; but as in the present condition of the humLn nature no man 
 is able to keep the law entire, so the law is completely inadequate 
 to justify. The law calls for vengeance upon every one who dis- 
 obeys it. Now, in this passage the whole human family are repre- 
 sented as charged with breaking the law, with not keeping it entire, 
 with breaking it in thought, word and action, and it is only if found 
 innocent that they will be acquitted. Now, where is the man that 
 can lay his hand upon his breast and can claim an acquittal upon 
 these conditions ? Can any say : " I have done no wrong ; I have 
 thought of my Creator as I ought to think ; I have given Him all 
 that honour which was His due ; I have never at any time thought 
 He was a hard master, but have faithfully obeyed all His commands 
 without murmuring or complaining; no impure thought has ever 
 entered into my mind nor any selfish Avish to obtain an advantage 
 over my fellow-creature ; that 1 have loved the Lord my God with 
 all my heart, soul and strength and my neighbour as myself, and I 
 therefore claim a meritorious justification." No man can do so but 
 must hide his head with shame and disgrace when brought before a 
 Holy God. Such are the terms upon which the law acquits, it 
 palliates no imperfection, for it knows of none ; for if one condition 
 is left unfulfilled, it condemns and forfeits all the rewards of obe- 
 dience. Upon these terms therefore a sinful being cannot by law 
 be acquitted or justified, in whatever way we look at it, whether in 
 its moral injunctions or ceremonial purifications. The expiatory 
 sacrifices and purifications were instituted from necessity ; for 
 when God gave the law from Sinai, on account of the depraved 
 nature of man he immediately afterwards pointed Out a method by 
 which those who infringed this law could be saved from the con- 
 sequence of such imprudence. The method which God enacted 
 was substitutional victims in place of the guilty, together with 
 numerous purifications and oppressive duties to be performed by 
 them. The victims that were appointed were utterly unfit to atone 
 for guilty man ; for before a satisfaction can be made, the substitute 
 nust be of the same standing with the accused, and must have the 
 
48 \VRITINOS AND LIKE OP 
 
 same privileges, the same feelings ; his mind must have the same 
 constitution, but free from imperfection, and in fine he must 
 be a rational being. Such, however, was not the character of the 
 substitutes ajjpoin'.ed under the law, they were from the brute 
 creation, devoid ot reason, an irresponsible being, and one of whom 
 the law takes no cognizance. The blood of such a being was of no 
 value, its life was no equivalent for the life of man, and it was im- 
 possible it could cancel the guilt of which man stood accused. 
 Again, if wc look at its purifications and oppressive duties, we will 
 find them equally insufficient ; ^for how could the clothing with 
 sackcloth and ashes, the fasting and the afflicting of the body with 
 burdensome ceremonies purge away sin? Would the bathing of the 
 flesh in water purify the soul j would the dedicating of the first fruits 
 make recompense for numerous repinings? It is quite impossible, 
 and it is matter of wonder how rational man could with such mean 
 things seek to be reconciled with God. By the law indeedove ob- 
 tain a knowledge of sin, but no respite from its penalties ; and unless 
 we look upon its sacrifices and appeasements as only typical of a 
 more perfect satisfaction, they are of no importance and of no value. 
 But this leads us to consider the second assertion, namely : — 
 2. That the only justification that can deliver us is God's jus- 
 tification, apart from all human effort whatever. It is not to be 
 wondered at why man should be so averse to salvation from eter- 
 nal punishment by the doctrine of the sovereign grace of God j it 
 is so humiliating, and must sink him so low in his own estimation 
 that he cannot embrace it ; it strips him of all his fond virtues ; 
 for his flattery and pride receive a complete annihilation We all 
 naturally conceive that we are better than we really are, and our 
 selfish feeling prevents us from beholding ourselves. as ourselves. 
 The very worst of our race, characters whom no person can look 
 upon with a favourable eye, perceive in themselves something good, 
 and he never imagines that he is unable to please God. Even 
 those very actions that are filthy, impure and abominable, that 
 outrage every proper feeling, he endeavours to make them appear 
 virtues by extorting them from their real shape and clothing in a 
 dress and form to which they have no claim. The actions them- 
 selves he may not defend, but the result, the beneficial result which 
 he had in view ; and although he did wrong, it was only that he 
 
WILLIAM nLACK LAWS. 49 
 
 might have an opportunity of doing good. To speak to a being so 
 full of egotism of the free sovereign grace of God is like tlirowii.g 
 pearls before swine; such a doctrine has no beauty for him, he 
 spurns it from him, and tells you that if human nature has not 
 moral capacity of doing right, it has intellectual. Such is the desire 
 of man to do something, that he .never can see that he can do 
 nothing; for rather than leave his favourite dogma, he will make 
 even the means of grace as having some merit in procuring his 
 salvation. He will consider his having believed as an effort of his, 
 and on that account he deserves praise. Oh, how wicked is the 
 heart of man, how destitute of good feelings, how ready to call good 
 evil and evil good, how ignorant of the perfect nature of God, 
 " there is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after 
 God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become 
 unprofitable ; there is none that'doelh'good, no, not one." Such is 
 our true position, and from which we cannot be extricated but by 
 *' the righteousness of God without the law being witnessed by the 
 law and the prophets." That can save -is, and that only ; we must 
 exclaim : "Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto Thy name 
 give glory, for Thy mercy and for Thy truth's sake. The Lord is my 
 strength and my song, and He is become my salvation. The right 
 hand of the Lord is exalted ; tlie right hand of the Lord doth 
 valiantly. I shall not die but live, and declare the works of the 
 Lord." And no sooner docs the Spirit of the Lord touch our 
 hearts and remove the film of ignorance from our eyes, than wc see 
 at once what we are, beings utterly helpless, 
 
 i have said that the righteousness ofv.od alone can save us. 
 By that I mean the plan of justification which He has provided or 
 the means by which He is to acquit rnan. That justification in 
 this place is the true meaning of righteousness of God will appear 
 from verses 17, 18 and 19 of the fifth chapter of this opistle, where 
 the Apostle says : " For if by one man's offence death reigned by 
 one, much more '.Iiey which receive abundance of grace and of the 
 gift ^^of righteousness (or justification) shall reign in life by one 
 Christ Jesus. Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came 
 upon all men to condtn-'nation, even so by the righteousness of 
 one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. 
 For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by 
 
 D 
 
50 WRITINGS AND LIFE OF 
 
 the obedience of one shall many be made righteous," and in chap- 
 ter 4, verse 13, where it is said '* Abraham believeth God, and it 
 was counted unto Him for righteousness" SiKaloa-fxvrjv, and verse 
 6, " Blessed is the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness," 
 8cKalo<Tixvr)V, without works. By these passages it will appear 
 that che Apostle means the scheme of justification which the deity 
 devised to deliver guilty man. The method which God took to 
 save man from the eternal consequences of his folly was of such a 
 nature that man could take no part in it. The Eternal Three 
 determined that man should not be lost, and for that purpose this 
 scheme of redemption was devised. The Father was to represent 
 the pursuer for justice, the Eternal Word was to make the neces- 
 sary satisfaction, and the Holy Spirit was to apply to the heart that 
 redemption. Man by this method is entirely passive, his opinion is 
 not asked nor his consent required to establish it, it is indeed a 
 justification without works ; for works from man is entirely dis- 
 pensed with. And from the nature of his position it must be so. 
 What can man do to appease God? or in what way can he gain 
 His eternal favour ? God is holy, holy beyond our ."omprehension. 
 He is likewise just, and cannot compromise any of His attributes. 
 We may have some faint notions of the greatness of this being by 
 the revelations which He has made of Himself. It is He that sit- 
 teth upon the circle of the earth and the inhabitants thereof are as 
 grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain anc 
 spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in ; that bringeth the princes 
 to nothing ; He maketh the judges of the earth as .anity. Yea, 
 .ney shall not be planted ; yea, they shall not be sown ; yea, this 
 stock shall not take root in the earth ; and He shall blow upon 
 them, and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take them away 
 as stubble. To whom will ye liken me or shall I be equal ? saith 
 the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath 
 created these things, that bringeth out their host by number. He 
 calleth them all by names, by the greatness of His might; for He. 
 is strong in power, not one faileth. In the presence of such a 
 being we must see our vileness, and shall be obliged to lay our 
 hands upon our mouths and be silent ; for we have not an arm like 
 God, nor cart thunder with a voice hke Him. Neither can we 
 deck ourselves with majesty, and array ourselves with glory and 
 
WILLIAM BLACK LAWS. 5 1 
 
 beauty. Nor can we cast about the rage of our wrath ; and behold 
 everyone that is proud, and abase him. When we can look on 
 everyone that is proud and bring him low, and tread down the 
 wicked in his place, hide them in the dust together, and bind 
 their faces in secret, then may we confess that our own right 
 hand can save us. But such is above our ability. We cannot 
 bring strength out of weakness nor a clean thing out of an unclean, 
 for every thought of our heart is evil, and that continually. Tiiose 
 who imagine that they can gain the favour of God by any moral act 
 or the performance of any duty are ignorant of God, and have no 
 idea of the perfection of His nature. They have never received the 
 truths of the Spirit ; and if they continue to reject the justification 
 of God, they will find that the security in which they trusted shall 
 be as bed that is shorter than that man can stretch himself upon 
 it, and the covering narrowep than that he can wrap himself in it. 
 God must have a perfect satisfaction which man is unable to give ; 
 therefore the only justification that can save us is God's, without 
 any help of man. 
 
 3. That it is a justification equivalent to the sins of the whole 
 human family and that we all require it. We shall prove this by 
 the character of Him who made it and by the relation which He 
 sustained towards man. The character of Jesus Christ who was 
 the Mediator betv/een God and man is that He was the holy God, 
 that in H'm dwelleth all the fulness of the podbead bodily, that it 
 was He who made the worlds and sustaineth them, mat without 
 Him was not anything made that was made ; in Him was life, and. 
 the life was tlie light of man ; that He was declared to be the Son of 
 God with power according to the Spirit of holiness by the resur- 
 rection from the dead. He was the eternal Fellow of Jehovah, who 
 left the bosom of His Father in order that He might die for man ; 
 and the same titles and attributes are ascribed to Him that are 
 ascribed to God. What God wanted Christ could give, for He was 
 holy and without sin ; no one ever yet accused Him of wickedness, 
 from His nature He could do it, for He was equal to God Him- 
 self, and from the relation He sustained towards man, namely, 
 being man He could make a complete satisfaction. In His media- 
 torial ofiice He represented the whole human family engaged to 
 atone for their crimes and make compensation to the justice of 
 
52 WRITINGS AND LIFE OF 
 
 God ; all which He voluntarily performed. None compelled Him 
 to lay down His life, for He laid it down of Himself, and took it up 
 again by His own power. In His essence and nature He was the 
 Creator, and consequently superior to man; and in His humanity 
 He was our brother, but without guile. He was bone of our bone 
 and flesh of our flesh ; He knew our feelings and could sympathise 
 with us, ihe Captain of our salvation who was made perfect 
 through sufferings. To Him the law and the prophets testified. 
 And lie is the anti-type of all the legal sacrifices. The pascal 
 lamb that was slain was only but a type of Him who was to be the 
 first-born of our race from the dead, who was to be the Hfe of all 
 who believed on Him, and was to free them from worse than 
 Egyptian bondage — the bondage of sin and of death. He is our 
 passover ; He was offered for us, having redeemed us with His own 
 blood. The pascal lamb was of itself no equivalent for the life of 
 the first-born of Israel, but it pointed forward to Him who was to 
 be the deliverer of those who were held in the slavery of sin. In 
 like manner all the sacrifices were shadows and types of this sac- 
 rifice of great value. It was of Him that Moses declared : a Pro- 
 phet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you like unto me; to 
 Him shall ye hearken. It was Him that caused David's heart to 
 be glad, and His glory to rejoice, and His flesh to rest in hope. 
 For Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell ; neither wilt thou suffer 
 Thine holy one to see coiTupiion. Thou wilt show me the path of 
 life, in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand are pleas- 
 ures forever more. It was to Him that Isaiah pointed when He 
 decla/ed Him given for a Covenant (or purification) of the people. 
 Thus the law and the prophets testified that Christ was the only 
 true sacrifice for sin ; they witness to its completeness in all its 
 parts and to His suitableness as mediator. He was God, and was 
 therefore the equal of the avenger of guilt. By this means He 
 pleaded with God for guilty man, and it would be no disgrace for 
 God to accept Him as Reconciliator. And while He pleaded ^or 
 guilty man He was pleading for His brethren. He was pleading 
 for them with a love and with a pathos indescribable by the tongue 
 of men or of angels ; ard He sealed it with His life in order to obtain 
 His suit. 
 The crime with which man stood indicted was disobedience of 
 
WILLIAM BLACK LAWS. 53 
 
 God's commands, contempt of His authority and rejection of His 
 laws. By this means His life was forfeited until such time as He 
 could give perfect satisfaction for what He had done. This, man 
 could not doj for instead of repairing the breach that had already 
 been made, his nature had become depraved, and he delighted in 
 those views which were averse to the nature of God. But Christ 
 was a perfect man, and He has given His life as a ransom, He has 
 spoken peace by the blood of His cross and secured redemption to 
 all ; for all have sinned and come short of the Glory of God, being 
 justified freely by His grace, through the redemption that is in 
 Christ Jesus. 
 
 4. It is freely offered to all, none are excluded from participat- 
 ing in its privileges and blessings. When Adam fell from the 
 state of perfection into which God made him, he was the father 
 of the whole human family ; so when Christ veiled His glory by 
 taking upon Him our nature, He represented all mankind. When 
 God intimated to our first parents that the seed of the woman 
 should bruise the head of the serpent, none vvere exempted, for all 
 required to be delivered from this power the serpent had usurped ; 
 to be restored to that happineas he had lost ; to the enjoyment of 
 those favours they once possessed. God offers a free redemption to 
 all , but it must be received as such. All pride must be laid aside, 
 confession of sin must be made, God declared to be righteous, and 
 Jesus the only justification. No merits must be claimed for 
 accepting it, but all must acknowledge that it is through grace they 
 have been made to see their need of it. These are the conditions, 
 and they are certainly conditions of mercy ; tvho can refuse them ? 
 Our life was forfeited, and it is offered to us gratuitously ; we had 
 incapacitated ourselves for living with God, and His Spirit is pro- 
 mised to sanctify us. Those who reject these terms must be 
 wilfully guilty and amazingly ignorant. But perhaps they imagine 
 God is not sincere, and that they have no grounds to hope for such 
 a justification. The sincerity of God cannot be mistaken, he can 
 receive no benefit from us ; our destruction would have vindicated 
 His justice as well as our redemption ; besides, He is not a man that 
 He should lie, nor the son of man that He should repent, and the 
 language is plain, justified freely by His grace through the redemp- 
 tion that is in Christ Jesus. This is a doctrine seldom relished, and 
 
54 WRITINGS AND LIFE OF 
 
 it is only those who are led by God to see their vileness and their 
 need of it that will ever accept of salvation upon these terms. God is 
 indeed a God of love when He proclaims : " My Son is the Saviour of 
 all men ; come, and be saved by Him ; " who declares : " Oh ! every 
 one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters ; and He that hath no 
 money; come ye, buy and eat ; yea, come buy wine and milk without 
 money and without price." " This is indeed a faithful saying," says 
 the apostle Paul, " and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus 
 came into the world to save sinners, of whom He considered Him- 
 self the chief." The history of this apostle is a graphic and lurid 
 illustration of the freeness of the Gospel. When we look at him 
 with all the zeal of an enthusiast opposed to it, trusting in the law 
 for his righteousness or justification with God, His ardent tem- 
 perament, His natural prejudices, believing like the rest of His 
 countrymen that legal purifications were meritorious ; when we look 
 at him, 1 say, placed in the circumstances, it is a matter of wonder 
 that ever he humbled himself to accept justification by free 
 grace, 
 
 Paul gives the reason himself, for he says that through him first 
 Christ Jesus might shoyv forth all long suffering, for a pattern to 
 them who should hereafter believe on Him to everlasting life. And 
 a noble example it is. Who can say after Paul :" I will be rejected ;" 
 a man that was furious and exceedingly mad against Jesus of N"..:-a- 
 reth, he embraced the offers of free salvation, and none after him 
 will ever be refused. Christ proclaims the freeness of His propitia- 
 tion, and complained of the unwillingness of man to embrace salvation 
 upon these terms : " Ye will not come to me," he says to the Jews, " that 
 ye may have life ; ye will not receive the liberty wherewith the Son 
 can make you free. Ye are unwilling to be enlightened with the 
 light of God." Such was the obduracy and hardness of their hearts 
 that they rejected the council of God against themselves. Let all 
 beware of following their example ; for the awful consequences will 
 be as sure as the truth of the doctrine now asserted. But this leads 
 us to consider : — 
 
 5. That only those who by faith receive Christ as the. basis of 
 their hope of reconciliation and acceptance with God are benefited. 
 While God declares the freeness of the Gospel and the extensive- 
 ness of its character, yet He is equally explicit regarding who are 
 and who are not to be its privileged possessors. The channe 
 
WILLIAM BLACK LAWS. 55 
 
 through which man is to be benefited is by accepting Christ uncon- 
 ditionally as his Saviour. What faith is, is beautifully explained in 
 the epistle to the Hebrews as being the substance of things hoped 
 for, the evidence of things not seen. Faith is not the mere credit- 
 ing of the truth of a report, but includes also to place trust or con" 
 fidence in that report, and that our actions and motives are biased 
 by that confidence. It is not enough that we believe that there 
 existed eighteen hundred years ago Jesus of Nazareth, it is not 
 enough that we confess that He was a good man and sympathised 
 with uU the fail'ngs of humanity ; that He endeavoured to remove 
 their troubles and distresses and shewed His philanthropy by 
 the wonderful cures which He performed ; that He was disinter- 
 ested and destitute of selfishness, and was a bright example of how 
 one man should act towards another. It is not enough that we 
 should confess all that, but we must confess more than that. We 
 must confess that that perfect love which so characterized Him was 
 the effect of a perfect mind ; and that His sorrows were caused 
 upon our account ; that His death was an expiation for our guilt ; 
 and that by that death we are to receive life everlasting. That we 
 rest and confide upon Him as the remover of the consequence of 
 death by atoning for sin. That He is our Saviour from the curse 
 of the law which proclaims death to everyone who obeys not its 
 precepts. That we look upon Him as our Mediator, and that when 
 He died He died for us ; and that we trust upon the merits of His 
 death to reconcile us to God, to be received into His favour, and to 
 be allowed to enjoy all the blessings and privileges of a happy state. 
 When we are sick we must do something more than believe the 
 skill and ability of the physician, we must trust in that skill and 
 employ it for restoring health. A medicine may be ever so good, 
 but if we are to allow it to lie beside us with only the mere con- 
 viction that it possesses the quality of curing, in so far as we are 
 concerned, it is of no value so long as we neglect to apply it to 
 our disease. So it is with regard to those who believe the Gospel, 
 they must apply it to their. own individual case. They must be- 
 lieve not only that He is a Saviour, but their Saviour; and that in 
 their life and conversation there should be a reflection of His image 
 testifying that they are followers of Him. 
 
 While the Gospel is thus freely offered to all, and consequently 
 
^ WRITINGS AND LIFE OF 
 
 able to meet the wants of all, yet only those who by faith lay hold 
 upon the proffered salvation can be saved. God knows who these 
 are ; for He is infinite in wisdom and understanding. He knows 
 the end from the beginning, all things are made manifest to His 
 sight. Thus we see it is by free grace that we can be saved, yet the 
 will of the creature is not infringed. But in the accepting of salv- 
 ation the creature has nothing to glory in ; for faith itself is the 
 gift of God. ** By grace ye are saved through faith, and that not of 
 ourselves ; it is the gift of God." 
 
 6. That it is a justification maintaining God's integrity. Angels 
 are represented as desiring to look into the wonderful scheme by 
 which God redeemed man. Every intelligent mind was full of 
 anxiety to know how God could maintain His truth, and at the same 
 time reheve man from his perilous situation. How mercy and truth 
 could meet together, how righteousness and peace could embrace 
 each other, were questions too momentous for finite minds to com- 
 prehend ; none but Infinite God, none but the eternal Jehovah 
 could understand it ; and He was just yet the justifier of the un- 
 godly. In connection with the justice of God the salvation of man 
 is grand and magnificent, so glorious that it is past our minds to 
 conceive or to comprehend so long as we are here below ; but in 
 heaven man will see the extent of favour that has been shown him 
 when he sees what he has gained, when he beholds from what he is 
 delivered, when he perceives what he would have lost in losing the 
 countenance and smile of the Divine Being, whose smile is the fiat 
 of happiness and whose frown is misery itself. I say man glorified 
 will know the amount of sacrifice that has been made for him when 
 he beholds the Majesty of God, when he knows fully what Christ 
 has sustained for him in satisfying God's justice that He might be 
 proclaimed the holy God. A perfect satisfaction was necessary, 
 and a perfect being only could give it ; Christ therefore in be- 
 coming our sui stitute was able to make that satisfaction, for He was 
 the eternal God and the centre of perfection. The satisfaction made 
 by Christ vindicated the truth of God; every precept of the law was 
 obeyed ; and satisfaction made for transgression. The law was 
 declared by the death of Christ to be holy, just and good ; and God 
 the defender of that law, merciful and gracious. The more we 
 contemplate the work of redemption the more we are lost in 
 
WILLIAM ULACK LAWS. 57 
 
 wonder at the goodness of God, and the wisdom by which it was 
 devised. Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and 
 honour, and power, and might, be unto our God forever and ever. 
 Amen. 
 
 SERMON, I Cor. xv-aa. 
 
 •' For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive."' 
 
 Death is a gloomy subject, and the children of men are in 
 general 'averse to its investigation. If it is at any time brought 
 before the notice of man, and he cannot avoid giving attention to 
 it, he as soon as possible promptly dismisses it from his 
 thoughts. It is a subject, however, that he has often to come in 
 contact with, and it forces itself upon his attention whether he will 
 or not, not merely in reference to others of his race, but more parti- 
 cularly in reference to himself. As time with man advances, he can- 
 not help observing manifest symptoms of decay ; his material body 
 yields to its mighty intiuence ; his eyesight, his hearing and the 
 instability of his limbs show plainly that dissolution is advancing. 
 These words of the Apostle tell us fully of the origin, certainty and 
 antidote of death, they, carry us back to the creation of man. to 
 the beginning of the time when he was produced by God in His own 
 image, and they remind us of the fearful gulf of misery into which 
 he plunged himself and his posterity by disobeying the command 
 of his Maker. 
 
 From the creation of man they carry us forward to the advent of 
 the Saviour, and the salvation He accomplished with its mighty con- 
 sequences which still lie in the future. As everyone of the human 
 family is included in these words, I consider everyone is interested 
 in what they declare. They are not given us as a matter merely of 
 opinion, but as a matter of fact, a fact which everyone of the 
 human family by his experience and conscience must admit The 
 experience of man for nearly six thousand years is that the race 
 is mortal, and the conscience of every man tells him that it is a 
 
58 WRITINGS AND LIFE OF 
 
 punishment; so that our experience and our conscience tell us, 
 that these words are true, api,rt altogether from their being the 
 words of an inspired apostle ; but coming as they do direct from 
 God Himself through the mouth of His faithful servant, surely we 
 ought to give greater heed to them, and as the truthfulness of that 
 se vant is corroborated by our experience and our conscience, 
 sinners, I invite you to listen to a matter so important to yourselves. 
 In discoursing therefore of our own death, there are four consider- 
 ations to which I would like your particular attention : 
 
 1. Death and its origin. 
 
 2. Death and its certainty, 
 
 3. Death and its antidote. 
 
 4. That as death and immortality are thus set before us, what is 
 our duty ? 
 
 I am then first to take into consideration, death and its origin. 
 Will it be necessary for me to pause here and tell you what is 
 death ? You must surely know it ; your experience must tell you 
 what it is. Have you never seen a human being full of life, force, 
 activity, strength, and his body compacted together with a nervous 
 and muscular formation, having an appearance as if it would last 
 forever, — I say, have you never seen such a being stretched before 
 you, senseless and haying no volition, neither knowing nor being 
 known, regardless of everything around, and powerless as to action 
 or passion, with hie beautiful body and powerful frame going fast to 
 corruption and a mass of putrefaction ? .That is physical death, 
 and that is the change that must come over you and me ; death 
 therefore is a calamity. Now, calamities are the result of impru- 
 dence, and imprudence shows imperfection ; but God made man in 
 His own image and all things very good, that means He made all 
 things perfect. How then does such a state of things exist ? The 
 story is brief but simple. 
 
 The Apostle says in the text, the origin of death is in Adam, which 
 means having the nature of Adam ; his nature not merely as to his 
 body, for God made man of the dust of the ground, but his nature 
 as to his mind, his soul, and God breathed into his nostrils the 
 breath of life, and n:.an became a living soul; man therefore is 
 material and immaterial, and this is our nature. God placed man 
 \n a position to enjoy this glorious constitution ; he had everything 
 
WILLIAM BLACK LAWS. 59 
 
 his material nature required, and his God-breathed existence was 
 satisfied in the fellowship which he had with his holy God. Such 
 was man in paradise, — in the enjoyment of free will, and unrestrained 
 except as to one injunction, only one restraint was placed upon 
 him, and that was to abstain from eating of the fruit of the tree of 
 the knowledge of good and evil. 
 
 In that garden of pleasure where God placed man that tree was 
 planted, along with the tree of life, in the midst of the garden. It 
 seems to me that man had full liberty to partake of the fruit of the 
 latter, but the punishment upon eating of the fruit of the former 
 was to be immediate death, death extending to every part of his 
 constitution material as well as immaterial. 
 
 I have told you already what is the death of the body, viz., — a 
 dissolution of its functions ; but what is the death of the soul ? An 
 immaterial existence must continue to exist, and man has that 
 existence. The death of the soul is the destruction of those virtues 
 which constituted it the image of the eternal God, and which per- 
 fections it no longer enjoys, but their opposites, hence it is that it 
 is said : " In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die," or, as 
 the Hebrew has it, " Dying thou shalt die." 
 
 SERMON, 1 XiMOXHY i-15. 
 
 This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ 
 Jesus came into the world to save sinners. 
 
 In speaking from this subject I shall direct your attention to the 
 following topics • 
 
 1. The various maxims which have been propounded to the 
 world, for the purpose of relieving them from their present embar- 
 rassed circumstances ; 
 
 2. The maxim here propounded to our consideration ; 
 
 3. Its character ; 
 
 4. The reception it ought to meet with from the manner in which 
 it recommends itself to our notice. 
 
6o WRITINGS AND LIFE OF 
 
 And while we are considering each of these subjects, may the 
 Divine Spirit illuminate our minds, so that we may be enabled to 
 embrace truth and reject error. 
 
 According to the above arrangement, I am first to consider the 
 various maxims that have been propounded to the world for the 
 purpose of relieving It from its embarrassing circumstances. 
 
 Amid all the clash of opinions which have infested the world, there 
 is one which is universally acknowledged, and which cannot be de- 
 nied even by those who would be most anxious to do so, but from 
 observation and practical experience they are obliged to confess its 
 truth, viz :— that man is a degenerate being — a being different from 
 what he once was, and that his present character is but a wreck of 
 his former glory. It is in consequence of this truth being thus uni- 
 versally embraced that the world has been troubled with so many 
 schemes for the elevation of man to his former dignity and grand- 
 eur. Regarding the manner in which man came to his present 
 state ihere are diversities of opinion, and of course it is only in th^ 
 way that each views the cause of his degeneracy that they propos^ 
 their cure. Some have supposed that they have offended a supe- 
 rior being, and in consequence of that offence have been doomed to 
 the perplexities of body and mind which they now suffer ; they have 
 therefore devised that a recompense should be made, his favour soli- 
 cited, and by moral efforts to restrain our feeling and passions so as 
 to please him. They have further supposed that a sacrifice of life 
 was necessary, and for that purpose the first born, the most valuable 
 of all that they ', 'osrssed, has been devoted to appease the wratii of 
 Deity. There is ar ether opinion regarding the origin of the de- 
 pravity of vaan, and which is worthy of our consideration. It is one 
 dangerouE; and it is one plausible. It is both in consequence of 
 pampering human pride and extolling the dignity of human ability. 
 They assert that the cause of man's depravity may be traced to the 
 neglect of the cultivation of those faculties with which he has been 
 endowed, and in consequence of that neglect his mind has become 
 abandoned, his moral faculties vitiated, but that whenever he pleases 
 he may enjo> all the pleasure, the peace and happiness which his 
 nature is capable of receiving by obeying the dictates of his own 
 mind and attending to its cultivation. Others have declared that 
 the performance of moral duties and performing certain devotional 
 
WILLIAM BLACK LAWS. 6l 
 
 exercises are certifications of peace hereafter, but they reject with 
 contempt and disdain every attempt to relieve man by any other 
 means than his own exertions. The epicurean asserted that hixury 
 was heaven. And there were others who advised the very reverse, 
 and recommended austerity of life and the rejection of everything 
 but what was needed for the mere support of human existence, as 
 the only way to secure comfort and enjoy ease. 
 
 Other schemes might be mentioned, but I think these will be suf- 
 ficient to show that vain man will be wise ; but still with all his wis- 
 dom, where has been success ? Have not all their attempts failed? 
 Has peace been given to the conscience and have all their endeavours 
 yet gained perfection of nature without which there can be no solid 
 enjoyment, no rest, no comfort, and no happiness ? Let us for a short 
 time glance at each of their propositions. 
 
 Will those who consider the calamity as having arisen from dis- 
 obedience to \a\^ feel easy under the plan they propose, or will that 
 plan appear to them as capable to attain the object they aim at ? 
 Will they not rather have a secret misgiving of what they are doing, 
 and that the fruit of the body is totally incompetent to atone for the 
 sin of the soul? One moment's reflection might show them that in 
 that very act they are infringing the law of nature and right, and 
 adding to their crime, trampling under foot the most sacred ties by 
 which we are connected to each other. What perfect being could 
 delight in such acts of abominable worship, acts whose origin is 
 selfishi:?ss and the execution of them violence ? 'J'hey never would 
 have resorted to measures had they not been terrified at the punish- 
 ment their own sins merited, and in order to be delivered from this 
 dreadful condemnation, from a mistaken notion, they have consid- 
 ered that the life of a child or war captive will be sufficient to excul- 
 pate them from these dreadful consequences. But no such methods 
 can be successful. The righteous Governor of the world cannot ac- 
 cept of any such method of reconciliation. Neither will those who 
 talk of man's intellectual abilities as being able to redeem himself 
 be more successful — man arrive at perfection by his own efforts 
 and the cultivation of his mind, never ! And in the history of our 
 race, where is the example that can be pointed to ? have we not seen 
 the very reverse? that instead of progressing from one step of vir- 
 tue to great degree of virtue we have diverged farther and farther 
 
62 WRITINGS AND LIFE OF 
 
 from the path of righteousness ? The nations that have come to the 
 greatest degree of civilization, do they not show by their deeds left 
 on record that selfishness, covetous and lustful feelings, jealousy, 
 envy and malice were the motives that impelled them to action, and 
 not the principles of pure rectitude? It cannot be otherwise, for a 
 mind whose inherent quality is error is utterly incapable of its own 
 self to impart to itself a disposition quite the reverse. It might be 
 seen by all who imbibe these principles that this is a sandy founda- 
 tion upon which they build. They might see it from their charac- 
 ter, for have they yet exhibited to the vorld that moral rectitude that 
 would give peace and satisfaction to the soul of man. Do we not 
 see that their actions are together with the motives by which these 
 actions are performed altogether evil? Will those who think that 
 by the performance of moral duties and external acts of devotion they 
 will be more successful, we must assert, no. No man can perform a mo- 
 ral action as he ought to perform it, and instead of yielding any merit 
 to atone for former offences, he has only (supposing he could perform 
 it correctly) done his duty, and there is no true gratification, no ex- 
 emption from offended justice by any devotional exercises whatever, 
 for the whole of the actions of an imperfect being can never appease 
 the crie' .^.Vjngeance for crime committed, nor still the troubled 
 conscience avoused by the wilful performance of acts of violence 
 and outrage. Before there can be peace there must be a perfect 
 atonci lent, and before that peace can be enjoyed there must be re- 
 generation. 
 
 All the schemes of man are alike unprofitable and abortive. No 
 man can redeem the soul of his brother nor pay to God sufficient 
 ransom for it, so amid all the maxims and sayings of man, the Gos- 
 pel alone can restore man to his former dignity — and which I shall 
 now endeavour to prove in the second thing proposed, namely, the 
 saying here propounded to our consideration, that Christ Jesus 
 came into the world to save sinners. 
 
 I. I would enquire what is a sinner? A sinner is an individual 
 endowed with rational reasoning and intellectual powers, able to 
 know and apprehend the nature of an obligation, able also to dis- 
 tinguish between right and wrong, the path of duty and the path of 
 disobedience, able to appreciate the reward his actions merit and 
 feel the consequence of his reckless violation of right, a being hav 
 
WILLIAM BLACK LAWS. 63 
 
 ing the full power of all his faculties under his control, with perfect 
 liberty to act as he pleases. A being less (lualified than this cannot 
 be a sinner or amenable to any law. Hence we find that idiots who 
 commit crimes are not looked upon as offender:;, as they are per- 
 sons who have no reason to understand that they have committed 
 any offence. Neither is the brute creation, who arc likewise devoid 
 of reasoning faculties, reckoned as sinners. It is only those wuo, 
 having reasoning powers, knowingly and wilfully violate the law of 
 right that are denominated as such. 
 An individual can be a sinner in two ways : 
 
 1. Refraining from known duty; and 
 
 2. Tref passing a known law. 
 
 And those who, having the faculties that J have described, com- 
 mit sin, are individuals lying under heavy penalties in consequence 
 of their wickedness. When the Author of their being has presented 
 their duty and has commanded that He has a right to their services 
 supremely, that His government is not to be rebelled againsr, neither 
 in negative nor positive commands, and has said that if they attend 
 to these stipulations they shall enjoy His favour, have His smile, be 
 invested with continual peace and pleasure ; but if on the contrary 
 they abuse the powers He has bestowed upon them, and with 
 ambitious minds endeavour to overturn His sovereignty, they are to 
 expect death, eternal misery, and everlasting condemnation. 
 Aggravated indeed must be their sin who have rejected such offers. 
 It will be seen from what I have stated that I have been describing 
 the condition of the' family of man. God indeed did create them 
 with natures in kind though not in degree equal to His own, and with 
 full liberty to obey or disobey the command He enjoined upon them 
 as they thought fit, and we find that the privileges thus granted unto 
 them were employed by them for the purpose of casting God from 
 His eternal throne. I have thus described what is a sinner ; I shall 
 therefore in the next place consider the condition of sinners. 
 
 2. The condition of sinners. 
 
 The condition of a sinner is not to be envied — continually under 
 the displeasure of a righteous being wnom they have unjustly 
 offended, and liable to punishment due for these offences. This can- 
 not surely be a position of enjoyment, yet such is the indifference of 
 some men's minds, that they cannot see themselves labouring under 
 
'64 WRITINGS AND LIFE OF 
 
 any disadvantage whatever, nor wih they be made to believe that 
 the present line of conduct they are following cut will lead to awful 
 consequences. Many exclaim : " What is my crime that such heavy 
 denunciations should be levelled at me ?" To such I would say : your 
 crime is endeavoring to supplant God ; " and if everyone were to ex- 
 amine into the state of his mind, he would find this to be exactly 
 the case. It is to be as gods that we are all aiming at in our natural 
 state, and the same motives that excited our first parents to depart 
 from the path of obedience still actuate us. Look at our intercourse 
 with each other. Is not selfishness the basis of our conduct? Is 
 it not selfishness and covetousness that are the bane of mankind and 
 the origin of all that misery and ruin in ihe world ? Do we not see 
 faction endeavouring to extirpate faction, and each and all of us 
 aggrandising ourselves at the expense of our fellows, and if we had 
 the power we have the mind to subvert and destroy the supremacy 
 of the eternal God. But God has arisen and asserted His superiority, 
 and expelled man from His face as a sinner richly deserving the 
 punishments which His justice inflicts. But, to be more explicit and 
 to define more closely the condition of a sinner, I say in the first 
 place : — 
 
 I. A sinner is a being who is at variance with himself, raid where 
 there is no perfection there is no happiness, his mind being there- 
 fore continually aiming at some solid enjoyment, he feels vexed and 
 fretful at being always disappointed. He is in search of an object 
 from which he might expect peace, but having depraved desires he 
 looks to a depraved object for that satisfaction he is longing for, and 
 feels to his experience it is not there. He changes the object, and 
 promises himself success with regard to the next ; but when he comes 
 to embrace what his soul longed for, he finds that there is a thorn 
 connected with it, and that all his pleasures have been but a phantom, 
 a shadow, a spectre, containing everything but what he expected, — 
 full of grief but no joy. The mind of man was made for enjoyment, 
 it was made for gratification, so how can that mind feel at ease which 
 cannot get what it desires? That mind is extremely proud : it boasts 
 of its prudence and consummate wisdom, it looks upon all as inferior 
 to itself; full therefore of its own knowledge, it feels more chagrined 
 at the failure of its projects. Man can look with mirth and con- 
 tempt upon the castles others are building in the air, but he never 
 
WILLIAM BLACK LAWS. 65 
 
 reflects for one moment that what he is himself engaged at is of the 
 same description. Let me briefly illustrate what I have now ad- 
 vanced, and I shall demonstrate what I have said from the actions 
 that occur every day among the children of men. Do we not see 
 every day the greater part if not the whole of our fellow-crea tures 
 preparing for future glory, some in one way and some in another ? 
 We behold some struggling to amass wealth and to add field to field, 
 looking forward to reap the fruits of their labours in fold age when 
 they shall sit down amidst plenty and prosperity. They vex them- 
 selves, they rise early and sit late, and they forget their life is in their 
 lip and their breath in their nostrils. But suppose they do attain 
 the summit of their wishes, do we sea them happy ? can they enjoy 
 what they possess ? Do we not rather see the god they so faithfully 
 worshipped the fruitful source of bitterness and sorrow ? This is a 
 truth that may be witnessed every day, and which the death-bed of 
 every worldling declares. Those who place their affections on the 
 creature are not more successful. Death sometimes snatches the 
 object of their desires from them, and if they continue in life together, 
 their natures are so opposite that each other's company is more a 
 pain than a pleasure. The conflictmg passions of the mind of the 
 sinner are likewise an annoyance to him. Eager to catch dt every 
 passing feather that promises him rest, he runs from one object to 
 another, seeking peace and finding none. True indeed is the expres- 
 sion of Scripture, that the wicked are like the troubled sea. There 
 could not be a better emblem employed for those who had an 
 opportunity of observing the elements dashing against each other, 
 and compares that with the conflicting desires and passions and the 
 heavings of an ungenerated mind will see the type is far short of the 
 reality, 
 
 2. tut the sinner is a being at variance with his fellow-creatures. 
 True indeed the wicked say to each other : " Come with us and we 
 shall find all precious substance ; we shall fill our houses with spoil; 
 cast in thy lot among us and let us ail have one purse ;" but is the de- 
 sire thus expressed one arising from kindness to benefit one another, 
 is it. not rather that they might carry out more fully their plans ? 
 This is evident from the manner in which they act. Dread seems 
 to lasc possession of every one of their minds, and accordingly 
 they lind each other by vows and oaths to, prevent the evil effects 
 
 E 
 
66 WRITINGS AND LIFE OF 
 
 that might arise from the faithlessness of any of the party, but see 
 how could an individual, endowed with dispositions so discordant as 
 what the sinners are, be at peace with his fellows. Solomon has 
 beautifully described the character of the wicked and the bent of 
 their inclination. They sleep not, he says, unless they have done 
 mischief, and their sleep is taken away unless they cause some to 
 fall, for they eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of vio- 
 lence ; how, therefore, could such minds expect to be at rest ? I 
 firmly believe that the deadly hatred with which each views the 
 other would in itself be a horrible misery, independent of the retri- 
 bution which their offences deserve, for as coals to burning coals 
 and wood to fire, so is a contentious man to kindle strife, burning 
 lips and a wicked heart are like a potsherd covered with silver 
 dross. Prom whence, says James, come wars and fightings among 
 you? Come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your 
 members ? The truth of the Scriptures is demonstrated by the 
 actions of men, and the world in all ages has been a scene of out- 
 rage, violence and bloodshed ; and what is it that keeps it at peace 
 at the present time? is it not the silent contemplation and the 
 secret thought that the strength of each is nearly equal, and not 
 from any desire to cultivate peace ? For peace is not in all his 
 vows. The gratification of lustful desires and the satisfying of 
 ambitious passions is the aim and the end of sinful man, every one 
 grasping at the possessions of his neighbour, murmuring and growl- 
 ing at the avarice of the more powerful, while he is exerting at the 
 same time witli all his influence to destroy those within his might. 
 Our Lord clearly proves the truth of what I have now been saying 
 in the parable of the unjust and incompassionate servant. Matt. 
 xviii. 23. 
 
 3. The sinner is at variance with his Creator. 
 The other two propositions arise out of the difference I have 
 now stated. Had man and God been of one mind, complacency 
 would have reigned in the human family ; but having once acted 
 wrong and corrupted his principles towards all, he feels a repug- 
 nance except in so far as they yield to the gratifications of his 
 passions. God is a being of moral rectitude, pure and immaculate 
 in all His peifections"; no evil thought, no unjust desire can inter- 
 mingle with His wishes, the constitution of His nature is altogether 
 
WILLIAM BLACK LAWS. 6^ 
 
 the reverse, and perfe<'tion is ihe basis of His character. God and 
 man oould not therefore long dwell together. oi)posite principles 
 never can be at amity, someone will always be endeavouring to wrest 
 power from the other. God as our Creator has a right to our 
 allegiance. It is our duty to give Him supremely the affections of 
 the heart, and have we done so ? Have we not estranged ourselves 
 from God ? Have we not determined to submit no longer to His 
 power and authority, and have we not said, " our lips are ours ; who 
 is lord over us ? " The sinner therefore has despised the l?ws of his 
 Creator, has contemned His authority and despised His right to 
 rule over him. Therefore the sinner must to these give an account 
 to the offtnces which he has committed in thought, word and 
 action, and how will he look in the face of God ? will his boasted 
 power then be able to withstand omnipotence ? will it not rather 
 sink into insignificance before the frown of His majesty ? and when, 
 he knows, consciously knows, what he has done, what will then be' 
 his feelings ? who can describe them ? None. None can depict 
 the sensations of a torm^ ited conscience. The mind of the: 
 offender naturally flees from punishment and investigation, but the 
 sinner has nowhere to turn for safety. He cannot say, " I am not 
 guilty," for which of the laws of the great Creator have they not 
 broken ? He cannot sue for mercy upon any plea whatever, for 
 there is not an extenuating circumstance in all his case. God has 
 been good to him, but he has despised His goodness, or if he has. 
 accepted of any part of it, it has not been with a view to appro- 
 priate it gratefully to the purpose God intended it, but has applied 
 it to his own devices. Man is an ungrateful being, and ingratitude 
 is one of his principle crimes. Neither can he plead for mercy 
 upon the grounds that I)is Creator is so beneficent in disposition, 
 for then the justice of God will stare him full in the facej and no^ 
 mercy can be extended until justice is satisfied. Where then can 
 the sinner look ? Before him is the awful gulf of misery into which 
 the justice of God must plunge him, and on either side are offended 
 laws and acts of kindness outraged, behind is the holiness of God, 
 the detestation of his soul, and the eye, the penetrating eye of the 
 omnipotent and omniscient Jehovah frowning with dreadful ven- 
 geance, whose wrathful gaze is worse than destruction. In con- 
 sequence of the depravity of the heart of man, there is no peace ta 
 
68 WRITINGS AND LIFE OF 
 
 him. God is his enemy, his fellow-creature is his enemy, and his 
 own conscience is his enemy, all his enemy ; and unless he can 
 atone for his misdeeds, he must expect these to be his everlasting 
 foes. His relief is only to be found in the finished work of Christ. 
 To the scheme of the eternal God lor the delivery of man from 
 his awful condemnation I am now to direct your attention. 
 
 2. To consider the character of the individual by whom our sal- 
 vation is to be effected, presented to our notice under the title of 
 Jesus Christ. The title is significant and characteristic of this 
 individual, Jesus signifying Saviour and Christ anointed, both 
 speaking and pointing out His relation to men. FYomwhat I have 
 already said, those who have paid attention will have observed that 
 the position of man is a perilous one, a saviour is actually needed* 
 a saviour to deliver him from the consequence of his sin and from 
 sin itself, a salvation to reconcile him to God, to himself and his 
 fellow-creatures^ a salvation not only to justify but to sanctify. 
 .Such is the salvation, and CJod only could have devised it. The 
 plan is so complete and the medium by which it was effected so 
 -admirably adapted to the condition of man. 
 
 J. Then this individual is God supreme. Nothing less than God 
 could redeem man, no creature could do it, for what is required of 
 the creature extends as far as His acts can go, so that it required 
 more than a creature's power to perform atonement for a creature's 
 misdeeds. It was necessary, therefore, that the being who was to 
 make reparation for man must be independent, and that Jesus 
 Christ was so might be seen from the manner in which He is ad- 
 dressed in Holy Writ. It may be seen likewise from those actions 
 which He performed, from the holy character which He exhibited 
 in His intercourse among men. John i. i and lo; 30 Mat. xii. 
 22 ; Rom. i. 4- 
 
 2. He was man. That as it was man that had sinntd, it was 
 necessary that man should make reparation ; so Christ became man 
 in order that He might make an atonement for the gui.ty and con- 
 demned human family, and in doing so, what a sacrifice He made, 
 descending from the throne of God to be shrouded in our nature 
 was wonderful and extraordinary, to think that the equal of Jehovah 
 should so act. Who could expect it ? Man never could have ar- 
 ticipated it, demons were confounded and the holy angels desired 
 
WIiLIAM BLACK LAWS. 69 
 
 to look into it. That Jesus Christ was a man and nut a jjhantom 
 is demonstrable from the feelings which He experienced under the 
 circumstances in which He was placed. For He hungered and felt 
 the effects of want, and He complains that the foxes have holes and 
 the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man had no place to 
 lay His head, He had sympathy for the distresses of man, and He 
 wept over the death of a friend worthy of the imitation of the child- 
 ren of men, and in His last sufferings He proved His humanity by 
 declaring that His soul was exceeding sorrowful even unto death. 
 
 3. The manner in which it was effected, He came into the vvorld. 
 The world had been the scene of crime, so it was the world that 
 must be ihe scene of its expiation ; the world had been the scene 
 of man's temptation and fall, and so it was the world that was to 
 be the scene of the tempter's defeat. It was man that had been 
 defeated, so it was man that was to defeat ; it was the image of God 
 that was wrecked and defaced, so it was God in our nature that was 
 again to restore it; the woman had been instrumental in destroying 
 herself and all her progeny, and it was the seed of that woman that 
 was again to rectify them; man had made himself cursed, and God 
 stood in the relation of a denouncer towards him, cursed was the 
 ground, " by the sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat bread until thoU 
 returnest to the ground, for out of it wast thou taken, for dust thou 
 art and unto dust thou shalt return," so it was by the sweat of great 
 drops of blood that curse was to be removed in its future effects, 
 death was to be abolished and the wrath of God pacified. It was 
 the life of a perfect human being that was forfeited, so it was the 
 life of Emmanuel, God in our nature that was to remove the 
 punishment awarded to rebellion. The whole scheme of salvation 
 in all its parts is so matured that when we begin to contemplate it 
 we are lost with wonder and amazement at the goodness of God. 
 Lord, what is man that Thou art mindful of him, or tl:e son of man 
 that rhou visitest him? Think for one moment upon its adaptation. 
 We were at enmity with God who is our Creator, how could we 
 effect reconciliation with Him? We were not His e^ual, and it did 
 not become us to plead in the presence of such a being? An angel, 
 however holy, was but creature, and besides was not of our nature, 
 and was therefore totally unfit to be our representative ; but in the 
 salvation of the Gospel we have Christ, a complete mediator on the 
 
7© WRITINGS AND LIFE OF 
 
 one hand, He is the equal of Jehovah, and on the other He is tlie 
 Son of man, and by the union of the two natures He has effec- 
 tuated peace between offended God and offending man. I come 
 now to consider the third topic, namely : 
 
 3. The character of the saying, it is a faithful saying. 
 
 1. It is faithful in point of its efficiency. The other maxims of 
 
 mankind had all failed to restore man to what he formerly was. 
 
 Happiness is what all men are in search for. The mind must be 
 
 filled with an object, and it is in consequence of the object of our 
 
 desire being impure that instead of giving pleasure they augment 
 
 our pain ; but the Gospel plan of reconciliation leaves no such 
 
 sediment behind it, for having made a complete recompense for our 
 
 sins by the death of Christ, there is a way opened up by which 
 
 God can act. Our debt is not only paid, and we are not only 
 
 justified, but God sends forth the sanctifying influences of His Spirit 
 
 to prepare our minds to enjoy the fruits which Christ by His death 
 
 has secured for us, for supposing an atonement were made and our 
 
 minds untouched, it would be of no avail, it could not extirpate us 
 
 one iota from our position, but God his provided for us an infinite 
 
 salvation delivering us from an infinite evil. 
 
 2. It is faithful in point of its veracity. The evidences of the 
 truth of Christianity are so strong that none have ever yet been able 
 to overturn them, neither its external nor internal evidences. The 
 miracles of our Saviour have been numberless times denounced as 
 juggles and slight of hand, and His resurrection, the foundation of 
 Christianity, has been looked upon as a trick and deception. As it 
 is not my intention at this time to enlarge upon this point, I shall 
 only briefly notice, and I shall do so by way of interrogation. 
 Could there be any deceit practised by our Saviour in the cure which 
 He performed on tlie widow's son of Nain when He met them carry- 
 ing the dead man to his grave, it could be no feigned death got up 
 for tlie purpose of miking Him notorious. He was a stranger in the 
 place, and therefore no collision could have taken place between 
 Him and the party raised to life. Was the curing of the deaf and 
 dumb like a deceit .- Was the raising of Lazarus? The cure effected 
 upon the man with the withered hand or any of His miracles done 
 openly liefore all tlie people and their inveterate rulers like craft? 
 We know the inveterate disi)Osition of the Jews at the present day 
 
WILLIAM nLAC K LAWS. 7 1 
 
 towards Christianity, and can we expt-ct that at that day their venom 
 would be less strong ? We aie naturally led to a very different corj- 
 clusion that if they cojld hive overturned these miracles ihey would 
 have done it. His lesunection stands upon an equally broad basis- 
 It was by the rdvice of the Jews that precautions were taken to 
 prove His imposition, and these precautions proved the reverse. 
 The sealing of the stone, the setting of the watch were in providence 
 of '^•od indubitable evidences of His having raised Himself from the 
 de.id, evidences produced by the inveteracy of His enemies towards 
 Him. The objection brought forward to truth of Christianity, by 
 stating that the apostles were bold, crafty and designing men, is al- 
 together groundless. What advantage were they to reap by being 
 so ? None whatever. The name of Christ was detested, and tiie 
 avowal of that name was persecution or death. And all the argu 
 ments that can be brought forward upon this point are weak and 
 abortive, for the writings of the Christians were open for examin- 
 ation, and men were courted to enquire, yet have we ever found any- 
 one overturning a single statement they have made or giving the 
 lie to a single assertion? Jews and Gentiles have both alike hated 
 Christ, yet wiili all their malicious spite they have never been able 
 to gainsay any of His doctrines. 
 
 The internal evidences of Christianity is another proof of the 
 veracity of this saying. I might here mention the extraordinary 
 operation of the Spirit which accompanied the belief of the Gospel 
 in the first ages, and these are noble monuments of the power of 
 Christ ; but I intend to speak more upon the operations of the Spirit 
 as exhibited in our day. The power of grace is as visible now as 
 it was then, and the conduct of the true professor of Christ is a val- 
 uable testimony to His cause more than what we are sometimes 
 willing to allow . Have we not seen and heard of the profligate be- 
 coming moral man and the abandoned and profane upright in their 
 dealings and fears of God, the drunkards becoming sober and the 
 blasphemer shuddering at his former oaths ? How are these spirits 
 changed ? Well might the question be asked, and the only answer 
 that can be given is that it was grace. The Spirit of the Holy God, 
 He changed their hearts. He applied the healing power of the Gos- 
 ])el, brought peace to their minds, showed them the glory of God, 
 and converted them like unto Him who died for them, thus even 
 in our day the devils are cast out and arc subservient to Jesus. 
 
72 WRITINGS AND LIFE OF 
 
 I come now lo consider the last thing proposed. 
 
 4. The manner in which it should be received. From what I 
 have said, do you not consider it worthy of a cordial reception ? 
 When we contemplate the condition in which man was placed, when 
 we contemplate that God devised this noble plan, when we contem- 
 plate the being employed to carry the plan into execution, and when 
 we contemplate the blessings it awards, when we think upon the 
 pains of hell forever as the end of sin, and when by accepting of 
 Christ's finished work we shall be adopted into the family of God, 
 is it not worthy of being cordially received ? But perhaps I am ad- 
 dressing some who do not consider the present subject as applica- 
 ble to them, who think they are not the sinner I have been describ- 
 ing. In reply I would ask the quertion : who are you that give such 
 a favourable opinion of yourself ? what righteous acts can you pro- 
 duce to exculpate you from the general charge brought against all 
 mankind? have your thoughts been chaste, would you like your 
 heart to be laid open, and iill there is there fully disclosed ? have 
 you never done any action you would like to secrete from the gaze 
 of mankind, your fellows, your equals, and are you ready and pre- 
 pared to meet the searching investigation of a perfect God whose 
 eye you cannot r.ow meet ? If you are all this, then I say you have no 
 need for it ; but if you are not, embrace it while it is time, shield 
 yourself under Jesus, who is willing to take you under His protec- 
 tion and bestow upon you a place which this world can neither give 
 nor take away, for you will find that it is a faithful saying that Christ 
 Jesus came into the world to save sinners. 
 
 SKRMON, HKB. xii, verses i and 2. 
 
 That man is a depraved creature morally and spiritually, I think 
 we do not need to stop to prove ; those who have read history see 
 this sad truth in every page ; and what are the literary journals of 
 the day, but a record of man's departure from perfection, and that 
 he has plunged into the paths of gross wickedness, and the man who 
 studies himself is alarmed at the number of unholy thoughts that 
 pass through his mind. A man, when he becomes sick and has disso- 
 lution in view, feels that he and the Supreme Governor of the universe 
 are not at one, and he longs and desires sincerely and earnestly for 
 
WILLIAM HLACK LAWS. 73 
 
 a way by which he can be delivered from this fearful condition. 
 Although God informed man in Paradise the way and the only way 
 by which he could be reconciled to God, strange that, from that time 
 to this, man has been continually planning for another way altoge- 
 ther different from God's way. Even in the face of the full blaze of 
 Gospel light, man is busy subverting the religion of God. These 
 words, however, bring us back to God's plan ; they tell us that it is 
 not in rites or doctrines, but in the person of Jesus only, that man's 
 salvation can be accomplished. The cloud of witnesses of which the 
 writer had given such a noble catalogue, these holy men, these 
 saints, to whom some offer up i)rayers and supplications, are, after all, 
 nothing more but witnesses like ourselves to the truth of God ; 
 bright examples no doubt they are, but wholly unable to reconcile 
 us 10 God a ^d to atone for our sins, for their object of faith is the 
 very same object of our faith, and the same Saviour that was offered 
 to them is our Saviour. Some will tell us that our religion is only 
 able to save us if it has a certain form of ecclesiastical government, 
 and without that it cannot. 
 
 It may be in the dogma of an infallible earthly head, which has 
 lately been promulgated at Rome, and which contains in the very 
 face of it a lie. They put their trust in a priesthood of whom this 
 pretended Vicar of Christ is the head, and who claim to be the suc- 
 cessors of the Apostles, and that they have a right through that suc- 
 cession to pardon sins. 
 
 Some again, through the doctrine of Apostolic succession, claim 
 to be the only dispensers of God's grace, and that sacraments 
 through them alone have a virtue ; that their Apostolical and Epis- 
 copal succession and order is that alone which Jesus hath authorized. 
 There are others, however, who despise all such hierarchies, and glory 
 in {heir absence ; who reckon all their orders equal, but who never- 
 theless place such a value upon that order, that in itc tyranny it is 
 equal to the former doctrine ; and out beyond the pale of their fel- 
 lowship is the blackness of darkness. Others, again, who may be 
 scriptural in their constitutional organization and doctrines, but who 
 nevertheless place such a value upon the initial ordinance being ad- 
 ministered in a certain that their Christianity depends upon it 
 alone, and that their fello\. ip is restricted to those only who hold 
 the same views. All these plans that I have mentioned restrict 
 
74 WRITINGS AND LIFE OF 
 
 themselves to Iheir own fellowship, and if they had the political 
 power, they would persecute each other, and all others who differ 
 from ihem. History confirms what I have now stated, and its pages 
 are full of proofs. But is this reconciliation with God? Is the sal- 
 vation of man by these means? Will faith in such dogmas save us? 
 VVhat saith the words I have now read ? " Jesus is the author and 
 finisher of our faith." In explaining this portion of the inspired word 
 of God, I shall direct your attention to two important doctrines 
 which are here taught, and may the Holy Spirit seal His own teach- 
 ing, and may the result be the glory of God. 
 
 1. That Jesus is the only object of faitii by which man can be 
 saved. 
 
 2. That the conduct and practice of Christians are in accordance 
 witii this doctrine, and they realize in their own experience its 
 truth. 
 
 First, that Jesus is the only object of faith by which man can be 
 saved. That this is the teaching of Jesus and His Apostles, their 
 writings fully decare (Rom. v. i, Eph. i and 7). The student of the 
 word of God is astonished that any man should have had the pre- 
 sumption to propose any other system than that which God has 
 revealed to us. 
 
 The more we think of this doctrine the more we see it to be *he 
 wisdom of God ; truly, the prophetic announcement made to Adam 
 has been clearly fulfilled : " The seed of the woman it has bruised 
 tl.c head of the serpent," and " as in Adam all die, even so in Christ 
 shall all be made alive." It was man who disobeyed God and despised 
 His law and His authority, so it was God-man who fulfilled that law 
 and obeyed it in thought, word and action. He was in our weak 
 nature, and yet in that weak nature all was holiness. The words 
 that God spoke to Adam inMmated the doctrine of a substitute born 
 of a woman, and with that iniimation fully before man, one wonders 
 how idolatry ever could have been established ; but need we wonder, 
 for even in the present day, with knowledge flowing like a mighty 
 stream, men wiil endeavour to obscure the death of Jesus by in- 
 ventions of their own ; they will undervalue that death by adding 
 their own supposed virtues to it, in the shape of rites and cere- 
 monies. But let us enter upon the question of the guilt of man, 
 and the demands of God, in order to see if it is in accordance with 
 justice- Let us (The rest of this sermor s lost. — T.B.L.) 
 
From I to 25 of these liymns were all that were corrected by my 
 fathei as I found them ; but I have inserted lines at the bottom 
 which I have found in his first draft of them, which I like better than 
 his corrected copy. — I'.B.L. 
 
 HYMN I. 
 Matt. xxvi. 26-30. Luke xxii. 19-20. L.M. 
 
 That night the Pasi hal lamb was slain, 
 Jesus God's lamb did truth maintain; 
 Against Him were His foes array'd. 
 And by a friend He was betray'd. 
 
 2 
 
 As Jesus at the feast reclin'd, 
 He said His Faiher God design 'd 
 That He for guilty mm should die, 
 God's broken law to satisfy. 
 
 3 
 As they did eat He took ihe bread, 
 He blest, He brake, and then He said : 
 " This is My b^idy, take and eat, 
 And for My sake thus often meet." 
 
 4 
 He offer'd thanks and took the cup, 
 " This is My blood, of it all sup," 
 a For it's God's covenanted plan 
 Shed to remit the sins of man. fa 
 
 5 
 " In memory of Me," He said, 
 " Do this, for I your debts have paid. 
 Think of My love, your curse I bore, 
 And fallen man I did restore." 
 
76 WRITIN<;.S AND MFE OF 
 
 6 
 
 Come U) this feast, Christ's friends oft come, 
 
 Here meet Mim till He call* you ho ne, 
 
 b Tlien like yout Saviour be divine 
 
 And in His kingdom drink new wine.;]:/' 
 Glasgow, 1852. 
 
 ^a For here is shown God's mighty plan 
 By which he rescues fallen man. 
 Xb When ye shall with your Saviour shine 
 And in His kingdom drink new wine. 
 
 (I composed this July 12th, this is the first I composed.) 
 " This do, ft)r siill remember Me, 
 Your sins they nailed Me to the tree ; 
 Think of My love and how I bled, 
 I bore your curse, your debts I paid." 
 
 II. Rev. I. 5, 6, 7, P.M. 85. 7^. 
 
 I 
 
 Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, 
 
 Lov'd the guilty sons of men ; 
 In His blood from sins of vileness 
 
 Wash'd us clean — left not a stain. 
 2 
 
 t^ Jesus Christ, anointed Saviour 
 
 First begotten from the dead, 
 Earthly kings reign by His favour, 
 
 Prince o'er all— His people's head. 
 
 3 
 Jesus Christ, who is almighty, 
 
 Made us royal priests to God, 
 We were rebels, mark His pity, 
 
 Heav'nly bliss on us bestow'd. 
 
 4 
 Jesus Christ, to Him be glory. 
 Power, dominion, honour, fame, 
 
WILLIAM CLACK LAWS. 77 
 
 Spread abroad Messiah's story, 
 Love, adore, and praise His name. 
 
 5 
 Jesus Christ with clouds is coming, 
 
 Every eye shall see Him then, 
 Those who pierc'd Him shall bewailing 
 While His saints rejoice. — Amen. 
 Warwick, Canada West, i860. 
 
 fr Chorus to first copy. 
 
 Praise Jehovah 
 Jesus Christ my Lord shall be. 
 
 IIL John mi. i, 2, 3. L.M. 
 
 Kehold the greatness of the love 
 
 The Father unto us hath given, 
 For God supreme who reigns above 
 
 Hath call'd us sons — made meet for heav'n. 
 
 a 
 The world with all its pomp and show 
 
 May look upon us with disdain. 
 Its gracious Lord it did not know, 
 
 Then though unknown can we complain? 
 
 3 
 High is the title we enjoy, \(i 
 
 For now are we the sons of God, 
 But future bliss without alloy 
 
 Awaits for us in God's abode 
 
 4 
 When our Redeemer shall appear, 
 
 Arrayed in Majesty divine, 
 We then shall see Him plain and clear, 
 
 For we shall like our Saviour shine. 
 
 5 
 We who ha/e such a hope within 
 May trials, scorn and pain endure, 
 
78 WRITINGS And life of 
 
 And puiiify our hearts from sin 
 
 As Christ our blessed Lord is pure. 
 
 ■jflfHigh is the title we possess, 
 
 For now are we the sons of God, 
 But who can tell the future bliss 
 Prepared for us in His abode? 
 
 IV Isaiah xl. 27-31. L.M. 
 
 I 
 
 Why thus complain, why murmur so ? 
 Why say my case God doth no now? 
 My way is hid from God on h, ^ii, 
 My judgment He hath passed by. 
 
 2 
 
 Hast thou not heard, hast thou not known 
 God's understanding search can none, 
 He who the heav'ns and earth hath made. 
 Can He be weary, faint or fade? 
 
 The Great Creator, mighty God, 
 
 Eternity is His abode ; 
 
 He giveth power unto the faint, 
 
 Strength to the weak and hears their plaint. 
 
 4 
 The force of youth shail wear away, 
 
 And chosen youths fall and decay ; 
 For r.ll the might of human strength 
 Grows weak and faint, and fails at length. 
 
 5 
 But they who wait upon the Lord 
 Renew their strength, they trust His \vord> 
 With eagles' wings they mount on high, 
 For on Jehovah they rely. 
 
 6 
 
 Tney are not weary, they run on. 
 Borne by the strength of God alone, 
 
WILLIAM BLACK LAWS. 19 
 
 Unfainting walk ihe heavenly road, 
 In glory they shall dwell with God. 
 
 V. Rom. VI. 1-7. L.M. 
 
 I 
 
 Shall we bi under sin's vile sway 
 That God His Grace might more display? 
 It cannot be we're dead to sin 
 And can no longer live therem, 
 
 2 
 We that were bapiis'd in the Lord 
 That solemn rite it did record, 
 That we shall live on Christ by faith 
 That were baptis'd into His death. 
 
 3 
 
 Buried with Clirist beneath the flood 
 The emblem of our Saviour's blood, 
 His blood alone that cleans from guilt 
 On which eternal life is built ■\e 
 
 4 
 •j-^The Father's glory was displayed 
 In raising Christ up from tiie dead. 
 So by Thy pow'r, Great God, do we 
 A life of newness walk with Thee. 
 
 5 
 As Jesus died, so we are dead, 
 Planted together with our liead, 
 And in His resurrection we 
 Plan tea with Hm shall glorious be, 
 
 6 
 Raised with Christ, renew"d'\Mithin 
 We can no more be slaves of sin, 
 Our old man it is crucify'd 
 And sin vile body is destroy'd. 
 
8o WRITINGS AND LIFE OF 
 
 f^ Like Christ when raised from the dead, 
 The Father's glory was display'd, 
 So we ihe new life thus shall walk, 
 And like our God think, act and talk. 
 
 VI. Phil. ii. 16-12. 85 and 75. 
 
 Jesus Christ, Almighty Saviour, 
 
 Being in the form divine, 
 Holy, infinite Creator, 
 
 All perfections in Him shine. 
 2 
 He did rule it was not plunder 
 
 Equal to God for to be, 
 And although creation's Maker, 
 
 He abas'd himself for me. 
 
 3 
 Low He n:ade His own position. 
 
 Was a servant for our sake, 
 Here He had no reputation. 
 
 He the creature's form did take. 
 
 4 
 Being found in this condition. 
 
 Humble, meek and mild was He, 
 Like as man He was in fashion 
 
 Died upon the cursed tree. 
 
 His was death without description. 
 Scorn and infamy he bore. 
 
 Hell was yawning with destruction ; 
 " Crucify him ! "— msn did roar. 
 6 
 
 He this awful death endured, 
 And His Father's laws obey'd, 
 
 So hath God His throne secured 
 And on high hath rais'd His head. 
 
WILM.VM BLACK LAWS. 8x 
 
 7 
 He halh high.y Him exalted 
 
 And hath given to Him a name, 
 Far above the most elated 
 
 Is the Great Redeemer's fame. 
 
 8 
 
 That the heav'niy and the earthly 
 
 And the hosts of hell below 
 At the name of Christ most holy 
 
 Should all knees before Him bow. 
 
 9 
 He is Lord, to God be glory, 
 
 Ev'ry tongue His name confers. 
 Holy Father, we adore Thee, 
 
 Jesus, we Thy name shall bless I 
 
 \ 
 
 VH. Heb. IV. 14, 15, 16. C.M. 
 
 1/ Behold we have a Great High Priest, 
 Jesus, Gud'a only Son, 
 The everlasting word made flesh 
 Who into heaven has gone. 
 2 
 
 Always let us be true to Him, 
 
 With firm, unflinching taiih, 
 Our testimony holding fast. 
 
 Resisting unto Death. 
 
 3 
 Affection fills the holy heart 
 
 Of our High Priest above. 
 He never can unfeeling be, 
 
 Infinite is His love. 
 
 4 
 He took our human nature on, 
 Our weakness and our pains , 
 He all our sorrows did endure 
 Without sin's guilty stain. 
 P 
 
82 WRITINGS AND LIFE OF 
 
 5 
 In all points He was try'd like us, 
 
 The tempter He withstood, 
 He overcame the fiery test, 
 
 Was holy, wise and good. 
 6 
 With freedom let us therefore come 
 
 Unto th : throne of grace, 
 For our High Priest presents his blood 
 
 Within the Holy Place. 
 
 7 
 And there all faith's requests are heard, y 
 
 We will not cry in vain, 
 Find grace to help in time of need 
 
 And mercy will obtain. 
 
 \f With joy behold the great High Priest. 
 This gives the idea of happiness as well as of admiration ; I do not see how 
 he rejected it. — T.HL. 
 
 M\\\, 1ST Thess. IV. 13-18. L. M. 
 
 I 
 
 Concerning those who sleep in Christ 
 
 What consolation we receive ! 
 As Jesus died and rose again, 
 
 So they shall rise, we do believe. 
 
 2 
 
 When Christ the Judge descends at last, 
 Th' Archangel's voice shall sound abroad. 
 
 From 1 cav'n with shouting he shall come. 
 Announced by the trump of God. 
 
 3 
 
 The dead in Christ shall first arise, 
 
 In forms celestial they shall shine, 
 God will them glorify with Christ 
 
 In natures holy and divine. 
 
WILLIAM BLACK LAWS. 83 
 
 4 
 
 Those ihen alive with those that slept 
 
 High in the air shall meet the Lord, 
 They shall for ever be with Him, 
 
 So Christ hath said — we have His word. 
 
 5 
 What consolation this we have 
 
 Concerning those in Christ who sleep. 
 
 We should not sorrow, we have hope ; 
 
 They are immortal — why then weep ? 
 
 IX. John in. 14, 15, 16, 17, 18. CM. 
 
 I 
 As Moses in the wilderness 
 
 The serpent lifted high, 
 So Christ was raised on the cross 
 For sinful man to die. 
 2 
 That whosoever should in Him 
 
 With their whole heart believe, 
 The blessings of eternal life 
 From God they shall receive. 
 
 3 
 For God did love the world so well 
 
 His only Son He gave, 
 To ransom it from Justice's doom 
 
 x\nd from perdition save. 
 
 4 
 The world receives eternal lif2 
 
 Through Jesus Christ alone. 
 For He was sent not to condemn 
 
 But for our sins atone. 
 
 5 
 Those who believe are not condemned, 
 
 Christ saves them by His death, 
 
 All that have .rusted in His name 
 
 With true and constant Faith. 
 
84 WRITINGS \NU LIKE OK 
 
 6 
 
 But those already ar-j condemn'd, 
 Who disbeHcve His word, 
 
 They perish shall who Christ reject 
 God's only Son their Lord. 
 
 X. 
 
 Hi:b. xiu. 20, 21. S.M. 
 
 I 
 
 Now shall the God of peace 
 
 Believers fitly make, 
 For every good and heav'nly work, 
 
 For Christ the Saviour's sake. 
 
 2 
 
 Yea, He will work in them 
 
 By His eternal might, 
 And so they shall perform His will. 
 
 Things pleasing in His sight. 
 
 3 
 For God hath brought again 
 
 Christ Jems from the dead, 
 Our Lord, Great Shepherd of the sheep, 
 
 And our Almighty Head. 
 
 4 
 Who did redeem His sheep 
 
 Through His atoning biood, 
 Of the eternal Covenant 
 
 And made them one wiih God. 
 
 5 
 Let therefore to our Lord 
 
 Elernally be given 
 The glory and the praise divine 
 
 By all in earth and heav'n. 
 
WILLIAM BLACK LAWS. 85 
 
 XI. 1ST Pet. i. 3-9. S.M. 
 
 I 
 
 For ever blest is God, 
 
 The Father of our Lord, 
 To us His mercy l)oundless is, 
 
 Therefore His love record. 
 2 
 
 Unto a living hope 
 
 God us begat again, 
 Through Jesus rising from the dead 
 
 We heav'nly blessings gain. 
 
 3 
 * A rich inheritance, 
 
 God did for us secure' ; 
 
 It's incorruptible, unstain'd, 
 
 And ever shall enduie. 
 
 4 
 
 lis glory shall not fade, 
 
 It ispreserv'd in heav'n, 
 For all, kepi 1 v the pow'r of God 
 
 Through lailh (Hvinely giv'n. 
 
 5 
 The saints will ready be 
 
 When Christ at last shall come, 
 Their holy life shall be -eveard 
 
 And heav'n shall be their hon.e. 
 
 6 
 
 In this they do rejoice 
 
 While sorrows they endure, 
 For here their trials many are, 
 
 But still the r life is pure. 
 
 7 
 The testing of their faith 
 
 More precicius is than gold, 
 Though in affliction's furnace tried, 
 
 Yet still the truth they hold. 
 
86 WRITINGS AND LIFE OF 
 
 So that when Christ appears 
 At last they might be found, 
 
 To glory, honour and to praise, 
 And should in grace abound. 
 
 9 
 Jesus unseen they love, 
 
 Believing they rejoice 
 With glorious and untold joy. 
 
 Exult with cheerful voice. 
 
 10 
 
 And great is their reward, 
 
 Thv, end of faith they gain 
 Their souls are sav'd from endless wrath, 
 
 Salvation they obtain. 
 II 
 What glory came to view 
 
 When Christ rose from the dead, 
 The blessings of immortal life 
 
 Spring from our living head. 
 
 THE CERTAINTY OF THE BELIEVER'S HOPE. 
 
 XII. I CoR. XV. 3, 4, 20, 21, 22-27. S.M. 
 
 I 
 Jesus our Lord hath died. 
 
 And in the grave was laid ; 
 He for our sins hath shed His blood 
 As prophecies have said. 
 
 2 
 
 •j-^. Though Jesus was entomb' d 
 
 He on the third day rose, 
 And was the first fruits from the whole 
 Of them that did repose. 
 
 3 
 By Adam's sin came death 
 And in him all have died, 
 
WILLIAM BLACK LAWS. 87 
 
 So those in Christ are made alive 
 And shall be glorified. 
 
 4 
 For since by man came death, 
 
 By man life is restor'd, 
 The resurrection of the dead 
 
 Is through our risen Lord. 
 
 5 
 Then as the Lord arose, 
 
 The first fruits from the dead, 
 Saints at His coming shall arise 
 Immortal like their head. 
 6 
 
 For Jesus Christ must reign 
 
 Till He subdues His foes. 
 Beneath His feet He shall them tread 
 
 Who do His rule oppose. 
 
 7 
 
 And death shall be destroy'd, 
 
 That last and bitter foe, 
 To God the Father then He'll give 
 The kingdom free from woe. 
 
 fv^ The first day of the week 
 
 Saw the Redeemer rise 
 So those who saw their Lord alive 
 Saw Him with joyful eyes. 
 
 Their joy was great indeed, 
 
 The grave it had no claim. 
 For in Him no corruption was, 
 
 And Holy is His name. 
 
 THE SABBATH. 
 XIII. HEii. IV. 4, 9, 10. IS and 8.f. 
 
 I 
 God Almighty, Great Creator 
 Did in six da> = all things make ; 
 
88 WRITINGS AND I.IKE OK 
 
 On the seventh from His labour 
 Rest rejoicing he did lake. 
 
 Hallelujah ! Hallelujah ! 
 All was i^ood that God did make. 
 
 2 
 
 On the seventh God directed, 
 
 Man should rest, on God should wait, 
 Weekly being thus instructed 
 / God t.eaiion did crente 
 
 Hallelujah ! Hallelujah ! 
 Man God's praise should celebrate. 
 
 3 
 
 As a Sabbath God proclaimed, 
 When the universe He riade, 
 
 So hath God incarnate named 
 That day He rose from tiie dead. 
 
 Hallelujah ! Hallelujah ! 
 Saints rejoice in Christ your hea'i. 
 
 4 
 Therefore, now there still remaineth 
 
 Unto us a Holy rest. 
 
 For this first duy it explaintth 
 
 That we are redcem'd by Christ. 
 
 Hallelujah ! Hallelujah ! 
 
 Jesus save the sin oppres't. 
 
 S 
 . Christ the Word of God, our Saviour, 
 
 When our ransom He became, 
 Over sin He was the victor, 
 Satisfy'd the law's just claim. 
 Hallelujah ! Hallelujah ! 
 Jesus, we shall praise Thy name. 
 6 
 On the P'-st day of the dawning, 
 From the dead our Lord arose, 
 Having burst Death's iron grasping 
 He abolish'd all our woes. 
 
WIl.l.IAM IlLACK LAWS. ^9 
 
 Hallelujah I Hallelujah ! 
 Christ will vanquish all our fo( s. 
 
 7 
 On this (lay His work He ended, 
 
 He hath entcr'd on His rest, 
 His rejoicing is extended 
 
 Over millions He made blest. 
 Hallelujah ! Hallelujah ! 
 They on earth His name confessed. 
 8 
 Jesus was creation's Make'- 
 And rejoiced in the same, 
 Now, to God our reconciler, 
 We this day shall praise His name. 
 
 Hallelujah 1 Hallelujah ! 
 Jesus, we shall sing Thy fame. 
 
 X Rom viii. 31, lopHK END. 8i- AND yy. 
 
 I 
 Those whom God hath call'd and chosen 
 
 He upholds ihem with His hand, 
 And if God the Lord be for them, 
 
 Who can then again.u them stand? 
 2 
 He that spared not His own Son, 
 
 Gave Him up that ail might live, 
 How shall He not with Him also 
 
 To them all things freely give ? 
 
 3 
 Who shall lay an accusation ? 
 
 Who the elect charge with crime ? 
 God hath said that they are righiejus, 
 
 Who is he that can condemn ? 
 
 4 
 Christ hath died that He might save us, 
 From the dead He rose indeed. 
 
90 WRITINGS AND LIFE OF 
 
 Now at God's right hand enthroned, 
 There for us doth intercede. ' 
 
 5 
 From His love who can divide us 
 
 Tribulation or distress, 
 Peril, famine, persecution. 
 
 Or the sword that doth oppress ? 
 
 6 
 Tho' our bodies may be naked 
 
 And adjudged to be slain, 
 Nay, in all these we are victors, 
 
 Through Chrisi loving us, we gain. 
 
 7 
 f For it is our full persuasion, 
 
 Neither angels, life nor death, 
 Things to come, nor that which now is, 
 
 Nor what powers nor princes saith. 
 8 
 Height nor depth, nor any creature 
 
 From the boundless love of God, 
 Never can they separate us, 
 
 Fo. in Christ it is besiow'd. 
 
 f Neither life nor death nor angels, 
 
 Principalities nor powers, 
 Things to come nor that which now is, 
 
 We defy them, Christ is ours. 
 
 XV. Titus hi. 4-6. 8s and js, 
 
 I 
 
 Sinners, in your disobedience 
 
 See the goodness of your God ; 
 For His kindness hath appeared, 
 
 And great love to man hath show'd. 
 2 
 
 Not because that we are righteous, 
 Or have works of goodness done ; 
 
WILLIAM BLACK LAWS.' 9*' 
 
 But according to His mercy, 
 We are saved by His Son. 
 
 3 
 * Through regeneration's washing, 
 
 By the spirit made anew, 
 Whose creative, holy power 
 
 Doth our evil hearts subdue. 
 
 4 
 God through Jesus Christ, our Saviour, 
 
 In great richness forth hath shed 
 All the Holy Spirit's graces, 
 
 And of sinners saints have made. 
 
 5 
 Being through His grace made righteous, 
 
 Heirs of glory we become. 
 And the hope of life eternal 
 
 Certifies our heavenly home. 
 
 * By renewing of the spirit 
 
 And regeneration's bath, 
 Sinners are prepar'd for glory, 
 
 Saved from eternal wrath. 
 
 XVI. 2ND Cor. v. i-6. S.M. 
 
 I 
 
 If once it were dissolv'd 
 
 Our dwelling hou^e of clay, 
 If once our tabernacle here 
 
 Should unto dust decay. i 
 
 2 
 
 We kn-:^w we then shall have 
 
 A building of our God, 
 Eternal and unmade by hands, 
 
 A heavenly abode. 
 
 3 
 In this we burden'd are, 
 
 And groan through sin and strife, 
 
92 WRirlNGS AND LIFK t)F 
 
 We long and wish our heavenly house 
 To swallow death in lite. 
 
 4 
 The' we should be iincloth'd 
 
 We naked are not found, 
 But clothed with the form divine ; 
 
 Glories shall us surround. 
 
 5 
 
 God for the same us wrought, 
 
 And made us fit for heav'n ; 
 The earnest of His spirit He 
 
 Hath also t( is giv'n. 
 
 XVII. Psalm xxiii. us- 
 
 I 
 
 The Lord is my Shepherd, I nothing shall need, 
 He makes me lie down on green pastures to feed, 
 Beside the still waters He leads me along, 
 My soul He restoreth and maketh me strong. 
 
 2 
 
 I n paths that are righteous He leads me to take, 
 And this He will do even for His name's sake ; 
 Tho' I walk through Death's vale that shadowy part, 
 No ill shall I fear for Thou ".till with me art, 
 
 3 
 
 Thy sceptre and staff they are comforts to me. 
 And a table I have prepared by Thee, 
 In the sight of my foes who would me consume, 
 My head Thou anoiutest \yith oil of perfume. 
 
 4 
 My cup is so full that it doth overflow. 
 Yea, goodness and mercy shall still with me go ; 
 In the house of the Lord my dwelling shall be 
 For ever and ever Jehovah with Thee. 
 
 Warwick. Ontario, Can., 28th March, 1868. 
 
WILLIAM BL/CK. LAWS. 93 
 
 XVIII. IS JOY TO thp: bklieverin the humilia- 
 tion OF JESUS. 
 
 I 
 Come, my soul, and sing the fame 
 Of the Savioiii — praise His name, 
 Christ the Son of God adore. 
 Sing His virtues evermore. 
 
 2 
 
 His infinite love record, 
 Sing how the eternal word 
 Humbly put our nature on, 
 That He might for sin atone. 
 
 3 
 
 He who was creation'.^ stay 
 Cradl'd in a manger lay ; 
 Tho' the heir of David's throne, 
 Yet no grandeur round Him shone. 
 
 4 
 Angels did proclaim His birth, 
 Few car'd for Him here on earth ; 
 Poor, despised and unknown. 
 Hated even by His own. 
 
 5 
 f Kulcrs in their rage were wild, 
 Sought to slay this Holy Child, 
 Slew the babes in Bethlehem 
 That He might be slain with ihem. 
 
 6 
 
 jesus stood temptation's lest, 
 Truth divine did manifest ; 
 Satan's cunning was not meet 
 Christ to prostrate al his feet. 
 
 7 
 Birds have shelter in their nest, 
 Foxes holes wherein they rest, 
 
■94 WRlTlf'' AND LIFE OF 
 
 But our I,ord, the Son of God, 
 While on earth had mo abode. 
 
 8 
 
 All the sorrows of our race 
 Jesus bore and took our place, 
 Spilt His blood upon the tree, 
 Oh ! my soul, was slain for thee. 
 Drafted 13th Oct., 1861, my fiftieth birthday, but altered and 
 revised May, 1868, to its present form. J 
 
 5 
 t Earthly rulers did combine 
 
 To destroy the babe divine, 
 Babes in Bethlehem they slew 
 When the birth of Christ they knew. 
 6 
 
 Satan wished our Lord to try, 
 And eternal truth defy. 
 In our nature Jesus stood 
 The All-Perfect and ilie Good. 
 X I think you will find the first drafts in Hymns 28 and 29, When I found 
 them I thought they were worthy a place as separate hymns. — T. B. L. 
 
 XIX. LOOK TO THE CROSS. 
 
 Gall. vi. 14. • S.lvl, 
 
 Look to the cross, my soul, 
 
 And there thy ransom see ; 
 Look to the cross of pain and shame, 
 
 Where Jesus died for thee. 
 2 
 
 Look to the cross, my soul, 
 
 The Word Incarnate see; 
 Upon that cross in agony, 
 
 He bore God's wrath for thee. 
 
WILLIAM BLACK LAWS. 95 
 
 3 
 
 Look to the cross, my soui, 
 
 Thy expiation see, 
 And always shall the cross of Christ 
 
 Thy boast and glory be. 
 
 4 
 Vain is the world, my soul, 
 
 Its joys delusive be. 
 But in the Saviour's cross behold 
 
 Immortal bliss for thee. 
 
 5 
 Then to the world, my soul. 
 
 Thou crucified shall be ; 
 Its pleasing snares and lying hopes 
 
 Rejected is by thee. 
 
 6 
 
 From Jesus' cross, my soul, 
 
 Eternal life comes free, 
 Come bless the Lord, thy God, my soul, 
 That Christ hung on the tree. 
 Warwick, Ontario, 31st May, 1868. 
 
 XX. Psalm cm. 1-5. L.M. 
 
 GOD THE SOURCE OF ALL GOOD TO THE BELIEVER. 
 
 I 
 */ I Bless thou Jehovah, O my soul. 
 
 And all thy inward powers aspire 
 To bless and sanctify His name 
 Be thy delight and great desire. 
 2 
 Bless thou Jehovah, O my soul, 
 And do not thou forgetful be 
 Of his unnumb'rd blessings giv'n, 
 And pardons all thy sins to thee. 
 
96 WRiriNdS ANT) LIKE OK 
 
 3 
 
 All thy diseases who doih heal, 
 Thee from destruction he shall free, 
 
 Thy life — yea it, he shall redeem, 
 And so thou shalt immortal be. 
 
 4 
 With boundless, loving kindness He 
 
 And tender mercies shall thee crown, 
 And who doth satisfy thy mouth 
 
 With good — yea blessing of renown. 
 
 5 
 Thy youth shall never know decay. 
 
 But like the eagle's be renew'd, 
 And from Jehovah thou shalt be 
 
 With everlasting life endued. 
 
 Warwick, Out., July, 1868. 
 
 */' I find 3 versions of ist verse i L.M., 2 CM. 
 
 I 
 
 Bless thou Jehovah, O my soul, 
 And all thy inward powers employ 
 
 To bless and sanctify his name 
 Be thy delight and highest joy. 
 
 a 
 
 Bless thou Jehovah, O my soul, 
 
 Thy inward thoughts employ 
 To praise and sanctify his name, 
 
 And worship him with joy. 
 
 3 
 Bless thou Jehovah, O my soul, 
 
 Declare his wondrous Tame, 
 And every power that I possess 
 Come bless his holy name. 
 All these were rejected, yet I insert them. — T.B.L 
 
WILLIAM BLACK LAWS. 97 
 
 THE GRACE OF JESUS ALL SUFFICIENT. 
 XXL 2 Cor. xii. 9. 8^, 7* 
 
 In temptation's liery furnace 
 
 Lord, I hear 'Iliy lovely voice 
 Saying : " Fear not, I am with thee, 
 
 In my Grace thou shalt rejoice. 
 
 2 
 '' Tho' the foes of truth surround thee, 
 
 Seek thine everlasting woe, 
 Still my Grace is all sufficient, 
 
 It will never from thee go. 
 
 3 
 " Should the weakness of thy nature 
 
 Lead thy soul down cast to be, 
 And tho' Sitan's Angel smite thee 
 
 Lo ! my Grace to thee is free. 
 
 4 
 " For my strength it is made perfect. 
 
 Dwelling in the human soul, 
 Fear not thou because of weakness, 
 
 For my spirit makes thee whole." 
 
 5 
 Then my soul, why shouldst thou murmur ? 
 
 At thy weakness, want and pain, 
 At reproaches, persecutions 
 
 Which for Christ are truly gain ? 
 
 6 
 
 Now my soul be glad and joyful, 
 
 Christ is thy victorious King, 
 Rock and Shield and Great Preserver, 
 
 Of his Grace sufficient sing. 
 
 Warwick, Ont., 30th Aug., 1868. 
 
gS WRITINGS AND LIKE OF 
 
 XXII. L.M. 
 
 THE INCARNATION OF THE WORD. 
 
 I 
 
 Infinite and Eternal Thought, 
 To dwell in flesh thy love thee brought, 
 The word of God that all things made 
 In human nature was display'd. 
 
 2 
 
 LoAfly the word of God became, 
 Assumed our nature, bore our sliame ; 
 To pain and death He condescends, 
 And thus for sinners made amends. 
 
 3 
 
 We praise Thy name, O Son of God, 
 For sinners Thou didst shed Thy blood. 
 Angels beheld with wondering eyes 
 And saw '] hy love with great surprise. 
 
 4 
 The wrath of God to satisfy 
 Did Jesus suffer, bleed and die. 
 In Him the God-head fully dwelt. 
 Yet He His blood for sinners spilt. 
 
 5 
 Come, sinners, come behold and view 
 
 The love that Jesus had for you, 
 
 For you His holy life was given, 
 
 Such love could only come from heaven. 
 
 Warwick, Ont., 1873. 
 
 XXIII. Heb. xri. 1-4. CM. 
 
 I 
 
 Ye who believe in Jesus Christ, 
 ' Keep steadfastly in view 
 God's brilliant cloud of witnesses 
 'J hat round encircles you. 
 
WILLIAM BLACK LAWS. 99 
 
 a 
 Let us be like those holy ones, 
 
 Who held the law divine 
 And did obey their God, while kings 
 
 Against them did combine. 
 
 3 
 
 Let ev'ry weight be thrown aside, 
 
 Ev'ry besetting sin, 
 And still with patience let us run 
 
 Tlie race we did begin. 
 4 
 Looking to Jesus who for us 
 
 God's law did satisfy, 
 Author and Finisher of faith 
 
 On Him our hop*, s rely. 
 
 5 
 Who for the joy before Him set 
 
 Did give the dying groan, 
 Endur'd the crt)s3, despis'd the shame. 
 
 And now sits on God's throne. 
 6 
 Like Him resist to blood, and strive 
 
 That sin we might subdue, 
 When sinners scorn we must not faint^ 
 
 But keep Christ's life in view. 
 
 Warwick, 6th Dec, 1873. 
 
 XXIV. ADORATION TO GOD. L.M. 
 
 I 
 Praise God, the source of ev'ry thing, 
 He did us make, His praises sing. 
 Mercy and Truth are all His ways 
 The Lord Supreme, 'et all Him praise. 
 
 2 
 Infinite, self-existent One, 
 Equal to Thee, lo 1 there is none ; 
 Through all the universe abroad. 
 All creatures are upheld by God. 
 
lOO WRITINGS AND LIFE OK 
 
 3 
 
 Immutable, Eternal Mind, 
 Great is Thy Love, for Thou art kind , 
 Thine acts Thy wisdom forth declare, 
 Thy presence it is ev'ry where. 
 
 4 
 Thy providence is vast and great, 
 On Thee for food all beings wait, 
 And by Thine all-creating pow'r 
 Thy bounties forth on all doth pour. 
 
 5 
 
 The Universe was made by Thee, 
 
 The firmament, the earth and sea, 
 The world of spirits bad and good, 
 Thou mad'st them all, Almighty dxX. 
 
 6 
 But yet His greatest work of all 
 Is saving man from sin's vile thrall; 
 The word of God in flesh was made, 
 His Love and Justice were display'd. 
 Warwick, March, 1874. 
 
 XXV. PSALM XIX., FIRST 6 VERSES. L.M. 
 
 I 
 The skies God's glory do proclaim, 
 HiG hand"Vv ork is shown forth by them ; 
 Day unto day doth utter speech, 
 Night unto night doth knowledge preach. 
 
 2 
 
 There is mo speech nor language where 
 Their voice is not heard to declare ; 
 Their line is gone through all the earth, 
 Unto its end their words go forth. 
 
 3 
 In them God set the sun a place 
 
 Who bridegroom-like goes forth with grace. 
 
 Rejoicing as a mighty man 
 
 Who in the race the whole outran. 
 
WILLIAM BLACK LAWS. lOI 
 
 4 
 
 His outgoing is from heav'n's end, 
 His circuit to its ends extend, 
 And in that circuit vast and wide 
 There's nothing from His heat can hide. 
 
 5 
 Sun, Moon, and Stars show forth abroad, 
 
 These brilliant orbs were made by God, 
 
 None seeing such creative art 
 
 Can say no God within his lieart. 
 
 Warwick, May, 1874. 
 
 Last of my father's corrected hymns. 
 
 T. B. L. 
 
 The following hymns and sci.gs were copied by me from sheets 
 whereon my father apparently noted down his first drafts ; but I 
 think they are worthy a piace among his other writings. — T. B. L. 
 
 XXVI. CHRIST'S WORK. 7^. 
 
 I 
 
 Sinner, on the cu sed tree 
 Jesus bled and died for thee. 
 Out of love your curse He bore. 
 Who ere saw such love before ? 
 
 2 
 Lowly in the grave He lay 
 Till the third — appointed day, 
 When He burst the bands of death, 
 Rising with triumphant breath. 
 
 3 
 Sin?5, the Lord is ris'n indeed, 
 
 Gone to heav'n for us to plead ; 
 
 There our great High Priest appears, 
 
 Saints no longer harbour fears. 
 
 4 
 When life's battle here is done 
 Christ will raise you to a throne ; 
 
IC? WRITINGS AND LIFE OF 
 
 Then His glory shall be thine, 
 Then enjoying bliss divine, 
 
 I have named 26, 27, 29 and 30 hymns.— T. B. L. 
 
 XXVII. CHRISTS LOVE. 7^- 
 
 I 
 All who love and serve the Lord 
 Come and praise the eternal word, 
 Sound aloud the Saviour's fame, 
 Sing His love, His deeds proclaim. 
 
 2 
 He who was creation's stay 
 Cradled in a manger lay ; 
 Though the heir of David's throne, 
 Yet no grandeur round Him shone. 
 
 3 
 Angels did proclaim His birth, 
 Few cared lor Him here on earth, 
 Poor, despised and unknown, 
 Hated even by His own. 
 
 4 
 
 Yet He loved the sons of men, 
 Grieved to see their sin and pain ; 
 He for man their surety stood, 
 Spent His life in doing good. 
 
 5 
 Those with maladies distress'd. 
 Those whom Satan had possess'd, 
 He did free from all their woes, 
 At His word the dead arose. 
 
 6 
 In our nature He was tried, 
 Yet the tei^ipter's wiles defy'd, 
 Thus He proved himself divine, 
 Then did heav'nly wisdom shine. 
 Verses 2 and 3 are in Hymn 1 8. 
 
WILLIAM BLACK LAWS. I03 
 
 XXVIII. THE CHRISTIAN'S SONG Tune Plymouth. 
 
 1 
 
 All that unto Christ belong, 
 Sing to li Ti a lofty song. 
 Glorify tht Son of God, 
 Publish all His work abroad. 
 
 2 
 
 Glorify His holy nartie. 
 Ye His righteousness proclaim ; 
 Praise His name let ev'ry tongue.. 
 And worship Him ye world's throng. 
 
 3 
 His unbounded love record, 
 Sing how the Eternal Word 
 Humbly put our nature on 
 That He might for sin atone. 
 
 4 
 He who was creation's stay, 
 Cradl'd in a manger lay ; 
 Tho' the heir to David's throne, 
 Had no grandeur of his own. 
 
 5 
 Angels did proclaim His birth. 
 Few car'dfor Him here on earth. 
 Poor, despised and unknown, 
 Hatod even by His own. 
 
 6 
 Jesus lov'd the sons of men, 
 Griev'd to see their sin and shame. 
 And for man a surety stood, 
 bpent His life in doing good. 
 
 7 
 Outcast lepers to Him came 
 
 And the blind, the dumb, the lame, 
 
 Their infirmities He heal'd. 
 
 None in vain to him appeal' d. 
 
104 WRITINGS And life of 
 
 8 
 Those with maladies distress'd, 
 Those whom Saian had possess'd, 
 He did free from all their woes, 
 At His word the dead arose. 
 
 9 
 
 In our nature He was tried, 
 Yet the tempter's wiles defy'd, 
 Thus He prov'd himself divine, 
 Then did heav'nly wisdom shine. 
 
 10 
 
 Birds have shelter in their nest. 
 Foxes holes wherein they rest. 
 Yet our Lord, the Son of God, 
 When on earth had no abode. 
 
 II 
 Judas did the Lord betray 
 Christ — the rulers sought to slay, 
 Romans did Him crucify, 
 All conspir'd that He might die. 
 
 12 
 
 He unjustly was condemn'd, 
 None could prove that He had sinn'd, 
 For He acted like as God, 
 • So the wicked shed His blood. 
 
 ■ Shame and scourging He hath borne, 
 Mockery, abuse, and scorn. 
 Him they decked in kingly dress 
 That their rage they might express. 
 
 On the cross what pains He bore, 
 Pangs His soul with anguish tore, 
 While His foes in mocking cry : 
 " Son of God, descend or die ! " ' 
 
WILLIAM BLACK LAWS. ^°5' 
 
 15 
 
 Sinners, to that cursed tree 
 Christ was nailed and died for thee, 
 OiU of love your curse He bore, 
 Who ere saw such love before ? 
 
 16 
 
 Lowly in the grave He lay 
 Till the third— appointed day, 
 When He burst the bands of death. 
 Rising with triumphant breath. 
 
 Sing, the Lord is ris'n indeed, 
 Gone to heav'n for us to plead, 
 There oui Great High Priest appear?, 
 Saints no longer harbour fears. 
 
 18 
 
 Sing, that sinners are redeem'd 
 Jesu's blood for them hath stream'd ; 
 Sing, salvation's work is done 
 And eternal life is won. 
 
 When life's batde here is done 
 God will own you for Christ's son, 
 Then like Him in glory shine, 
 The!-e enjoying bliss divine. 
 
 XXIX. CHRIST'S GOODNESS. 
 
 Come and sing a lofiy song 
 
 Ye that follow Christ, God's Son ; 
 
 Sing aloud, let every tongue 
 
 Sing the wonders He hath done. 
 
<06 WRITINGS AN'D LIFE OF 
 
 Sing how God's eternal word 
 
 Humbly put our nature on, 
 Ye His kindness do record 
 
 That He might for sin atone. 
 
 3 
 
 Cradled in a manger lay 
 
 God's begotten only Son, 
 Yet He was the world's stay 
 
 Tho' no grandeur on Him shone. 
 
 4 
 
 Sing how blind and dumb and lame 
 By His might their pow'rs regain, 
 
 Tell — the outcast leper came 
 And was healed of his pain. 
 
 5 
 Those whom Satan had possess'd 
 
 By His word were free at length ; 
 Those by maladies oppress'd 
 
 He to them gave health and strength. 
 
 6 
 
 Sing that on the cursed tree 
 
 Christ the Saviour hung and died ; 
 
 Sing His blood He spilt for thee, 
 And for thee the grave defy'd. 
 
 7 
 
 Sing that sinners now are sav'd 
 By the blood of God's dear Son ; 
 
 Sing— the ■ ice is fully paid 
 And eternal life is won. 
 
WILLIAM liLACK LAWS. '0? 
 
 XXX. CHRIST POWER. 
 
 Jesus lov'd tht ions of men, 
 Griev'd to see leir sin and pain, 
 ■ ■•• yrrows to remove, 
 Such was Kis enduring love. 
 Jesus made the blind to see, 
 Those whom Satan bound set free. 
 Spake and then the dead arose ; 
 At His word the seas repose, 
 Lepers unto Him appeal'd 
 And their maladies were heal'd. 
 
 THE CHILD'S SONG OF THE BRIGHT BLUE SKY. 
 
 The sky has told 
 A tale vp^f bold, 
 That God of old 
 Spread the bright blue sky. 
 
 Yes — Wisdom's Hand 
 Made that lustrous band 
 Mighty and grand, 
 In the bright blue sky. 
 
 What grandeur gay 
 Do the stars display, 
 Their shining ray 
 Deck the bright blue sky. 
 
 How clear and bright 
 Does the Moon at night 
 Give forth her light 
 From the bright blue sky. 
 
 The Sun's warm beam 
 Is the light supreme, 
 By day his gleam 
 Gilds the bright blue sky. 
 
io8 WRITINGS And life of 
 
 To time us right, 
 Thus the day and the night 
 Give each their light 
 From the bright blue sky. 
 
 With hearts divine, 
 At the end of time 
 The Saints shall shine. 
 Like the bright blue sky. 
 
 W. B. Laws. 
 
 Confess ye to Jehovah, 
 
 Call ye on his name, 
 
 Cause ye to be known his deeds 
 
 among the people. 
 Sing ye to him, 
 Hymn ye to him. 
 Cogitate on all his marvelous doings. 
 
 Glory ye in his holy name, 
 The heart of those seeking out 
 Jehovah shall rejoice. 
 
 Enquire for Jehovah and his strength, 
 Seek out his face continually. 
 
 Psalm L 
 
 The blessings of the man who did not walk in the- 
 
 counsel of tiie Unjust, 
 Neither stood in the way of Transgressors, 
 Nor dwelt in the Abode of the scorners, 
 Certainly, His will— the Law of Jehovah, 
 And in his Law he shall converse continually. 
 And he was like a tree, deep-rooted on the rills of 
 
 waters 
 That shall give forth its fruit in season ; 
 Its leaf never fades, and all that it shall produce 
 
 shall be excellent. 
 
WILLIAM BLACK LAWS. 1 09 
 
 Not SO the Unjust: — as certainly as chaff that shall 
 
 be driven by the wind 
 So shall the Unjust not stand firm in Judgment, 
 Nor Transgressors in the Assembly of the Just. 
 Because Jehovah shall know the way of the Just, 
 But the way of the Unjust shall be destroyed. 
 
 Psalm II. 
 
 For what are they agitated, the nations, 
 And the peoples talk vanity, 
 The Kings of the earth arrayed themselves, 
 And the Princes were combined together 
 Against Jehovah and his anointed. 
 
 We will throw off their restraints, 
 And cast from us their bonds, 
 Sitting in the heavens he shall laugh. 
 The Lord shall sneer at them, 
 'i'hen shall He speak in His anger 
 And in His wrath He shall terrify them. 
 
 I myself did anoint my king upon Zion, the hill of my 
 
 holiness. 
 I will relate concerning tlie decree of Jehovah. 
 He said unto me : " Thou, my Son, I this day did beget 
 
 thee." 
 
 Ylvev/xa, breath, spirit. A term which signifies the power of 
 God, or His animation or energy, hence by metonymy God himself ; 
 in the Greek it is always neuter, and ought to be translated by the 
 pronoun if, and cannot therefore mean an intelligent being, or one 
 of an order of intelligent beings, but the essence or force of an in- 
 telligent being. Genesis vi. 3 : " My spirit shall not always strive with 
 man." Luke i. 35 : " The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, even the 
 might of the Highest it shall overshadow thee." These passages 
 prove that livev/jia means the divine Might, or Nature, or Essence, 
 or the Effective of God. The word never means a person or a 
 rational, responsible being apart from one of the same order. 
 
no WRITINGS AND LIKE OF 
 
 FRAGMENT I. 
 
 ..\iiiong all thieves and knaves he is the most execrable who en- 
 deavors to rob another of his character, thai he may enhance his 
 own ; lessening his neighbour, that he may aggrandise himself. This 
 is that pest of society who is full of kind assertions tagged with buts : 
 " He is a good kind of man — but, every bean has its black ! " " Such 
 an one is very friendly ; but it is in his own way ! " " My neighbour , 
 N. can be very liberal ; but you must catch him in the humour." 
 Persons like these speak well of their neighbours, merely that they 
 may have the opportunity to neutralise all their commendations, 
 and make them suspected whose character stood deservedly fair, 
 before the traducer began to pilfer his properly. He who repents 
 not for these injuries and does nut make r-^storation, if possible, to 
 his defrauded neighbour, will hear, when God comes to take away 
 his soul, these words, more terrible than the knell of death: "Thou 
 shalt not steal." 
 
 mAGMENT II. 
 
 Of inability to believe his power and inability to help yourself, and 
 credit his power with application to yourself? Yet still, however 
 strange the call may seem, it is not I but He who hath all power in 
 heaven and earth that calls and commands you to believe in His 
 name and to glorify His power, by believing that God hath laid help 
 upon one that is mighty. Though the hand of faith be not only 
 weak, but withered ; yet it is He who hath all power, who hath said 
 stretch forth the withered hand, and take hold of His strength, for 
 His power and strength is laid lo your hand in the promise " My 
 grace shall be sufficient for you and my strength shall be made per- 
 fect in thy weaknerts ; " and His power is laid to your hand in this 
 word of faith which we preach, so that you need not ascend to 
 heaven for it, or descend to the deep ; nay, the word is nigh, and 
 Christ in the word ; there His power is offered to your faith, again. 
 Are you under the power of unwillingness to believe His power for 
 your salvation under the power of enmity and unwillingness to be 
 saved by His power? Let me ask you, whether this power of unwill- 
 
 I found these fragments among my father's papers, and I suppose they are 
 notes of his sermons, but they might not be his composition, for aught that I 
 know. T.B.L. 
 
WILLIAM BLACK LAWS. Ill 
 
 ingness be easy or uneasy and weighty to you ? If you be easy and 
 living easily under the power of the enmity against Christ, then it 
 seems you are easy and content, though he put forth his power in your 
 everlasting ruin ; for one of the two must take place, the power of 
 Christ to be put forth either in the conversion and salvation or in the 
 everlasting destruction and confusion of everyone that hears the 
 gospel. 
 
 Why say you : if He is so powerful, able and willing to save, then 
 let Him exert his power ; I am easy whatever He do. What ! are 
 you content to want this powerful Jesus to save you from sin now 
 and from hell hereafter ! Then I take witness against you, that if He 
 put not forth His saving power upon you before you go into eternity, 
 you shall be inexcusable at the great day, when you stand be- 
 fore His awful tribunal. He will be just in pronouncing that dread- 
 ful doom against you : "' Depart fiom me, ye cursed !" and you shall 
 have not'iing to say for your defence, but that ruin is of yourself; 
 and His damning power shall be just and righteously exerted against 
 you, because you did not care for His saving power. But if your 
 enmity and unwillingnes to believe His saving power and lay hold 
 upon it be uneasy and weighty to you, then there is hope in Israel 
 concernmg you, tor Hispowe: to destroy the power of enmity is put 
 in a promise for you to believe and gripe unto, "Thy pec^ple shall 
 be willing in the day of thy | ower;" d.erefore O ! glorify His power 
 by believing that He hath i)o\ve; to !)0w your will and break your 
 enmity ; and-if you believe this with any pleasure and contentment, 
 I can tell you the day of power is partly come already ; — the day of 
 believing is the day of power. In a word, a-e you under the power 
 of death, — dead really, under the i)OWer of spiritual death ; dead 
 legally under the power of the condemning sentence of God's law 
 that binds you over to eternal death ? Yet so long as you have yet 
 a natural life, a life of common sense and reason, though you cannot 
 believe by the power of natural reason no more than Lazarus could 
 come forth out of the grave by his own natural power hen he was 
 dead and stinking there, yet because the power of God works upon 
 the natural faculties in the day of power, therefore may I speak to 
 the dead in the name of Him who hath all power in heaven and earth 
 over the dead and living both, and who says: " The hour cometh, 
 and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, 
 
Iia WRITINGS AND LIFE OF 
 
 and they that hear shall live." O dead sinner, hear and believe what 
 He says. John xi. 25 : "I am the resurrection and the life; he that 
 believeth in me though he were dead yet shall he live." O sinner, 
 though you be dead, not only in a dead frame, but in a dead state, 
 say not : " What need you enjoin me to believe ? What can I do who 
 am dead? " Why, ilie question is not what you can do, but what He 
 can do that calls you; and it is not I that call you to believe, but He, 
 that hath all p;)wer in heaven and earth, and that can make you 
 believe. Therefore, though you be dead and rotten in the grave of 
 sin and security, yet He that is the n-surrection and the life says : 
 " Lazarus came forth ; come forth I Awake thou that sleepest, and 
 arise from the dead, and Christ shall give the liglil," Eph. v. 14. Oh I 
 is there none here who are hearing the voice of the Son of God? 
 The voice of a mortal man hath no quickening power to make you 
 believe ; but if the voice of ihe Son of God be heard, faith comes by 
 the hearing of it; hearing Him and believing in Him go together. 
 " Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that hears my words and believes 
 on Him that sent me hath everlasting life, and shall not enter into 
 condemnation, John v. 24. It you have heard His voice, then you 
 believe His powers; and if you truly believe that all power is dele, 
 gated to and resides in the person of Christ, and that .;s Mediator He 
 hath power to save you, then your salvation is begun. " He that 
 believeth shall be saved." 
 
 FRAGMENT III. 
 
 I Cor. \ii. 29. The time is short. 
 
 I. What is time ? It is defined to be a succession of phenomena, 
 and the idea that we have thereof consists in the order of succes- 
 sive perceptions. The ancients represented time by an old ruin 
 winged ; or by an old man bald, winged with a scythe and an hour- 
 glass. Death is the end of time to us all. i Peter i. 24. Our life is 
 the extent of our time — compared to grass, a flower, a shadow, smoke, 
 hand breadth, hirehng, shuttle. 
 
 II. What is the use of time ? 
 
 1. To glorify God, verse 32 ; i Cor. x. 31 ; Heb. xi. 6. 
 
 2. To prepare ourselves for the world to come. Luke xx. 35, 36 ; 
 Matt. xxii. 11. 
 
WILLIAM HLACK LAWS. 1 13 
 
 3. By example and precept to direct others to that world. Matt. 
 V. 13, 14, 15, 16 ; Luke xii. 8. 
 
 III. How will the end of time affect us? There will be an end to 
 all our privileges, which are : 
 
 1. The invitations ofCiod are ended. Isaiah Iv. i. 
 
 2. Hope is ended. Rom. v. 5. 
 
 3. The timeof im|)r(>vement is ended. Eccles. xi. ■. 
 
 4. The tim-j of duty is ended. John ix. 4 ; Matt. xxv. 14. 
 
 5. God's long-suffering is ended. Prov. i. 24. 
 
 6. Earthly troubles and pleasures are ended. James v. 5. 
 
 IV. What will be our prospects at the end of time ? What will be 
 our reward, will we rejoice at death ? 2 Cor. v. 6, 3 j Phil. i. 21, 23 ; 
 Job xiv. 14. 
 
 Brick Mketinghouse, 31st Dec, 187 1. 
 Acts xvii. 30, 31. 
 
 I. God's censure on the times that are past (yjre^eiBco). Lev. xx. 
 4 ; Dcut. xxii. i ; Is. xl. 18. 
 
 II. God's duty for the time present, — repent, it is from God. Acts 
 xi. 18 and v. 31. 
 
 1 . Deep conviction of sin. 
 
 2. Sorrow for sin. 2 Cor. vii. 10 ; Ps. li. 4; Acts ii. 37. 
 
 3. Open confession of sin. Ps. xxxii. 5 ; i Tim. i. 13 ; Luke xv. 
 18. 
 
 4. Haired of sin. Ps. cxix. 104; Job. xUi. 6; Luke xviii. 13. 
 
 5. Forsaking of sin. Ps, cxix. 113. 
 
 III. God's motive for insisting upon ihe performance of this duty. 
 He will judge the world in righteousness, therefore the necessity of 
 repentance for : , 
 
 1. All have sinned. 
 
 2. An evidence that they have been justified by faith, and par- 
 doned. 
 
 3. God has said : " I will punish tiie impenitent." (Zech. vii. 
 12 ; Acts vii. 51,) 
 
114 WRITINGS AND LIFE OF 
 
 NOTES AND HEADS OF SERMONS. 
 
 Eccles. II. 3 : " Where the tree fallcth there it shall lie," the uni- 
 versality of death, the time of death, the destruction of death, the 
 issue of death . 
 
 Hcb. 2-3 : " How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation ? 
 the necessity of a salvation — evident from all men being in pursuit 
 of happiness — misery occasioned by our corrupt nature — no happi- 
 ness bjt in being perfect — God the essence of pefection, 
 
 Rom. iii. 7-.S, Matt. xv. 19, Gal. v. 19-24. The great salvation pro- 
 vided: great in reference to its inventor; great in reference to its 
 agent ; great in reference to what it deliver from ; great in refer- 
 ence to what it redeems to. The end of those who neglect this 
 great salvation and trust to those escapes which their own vain ima- 
 ginations have invented, Psalms ii. 9, Matt. xxii. 13, chap. xxv. i-ii, 
 Rev. vi. 12-17; they lose the presence of God, fellowship of the saints, 
 heaven the seat of blessedness, all pity, the hope of ever being in a 
 better state. They undergo various torments, universal torments, 
 extreme torments, continual torments, the company of devils and 
 damned souls, the confinement of the bottomless pit, cruel torments 
 and endless torments. Matt. xxii. 12. 
 
 Psalms cxv. 3 : " But our God is in the heavens ; He hath done 
 whatsoever He hath pleased." i, The place where God dwells, the 
 heavens intimating his superiority ; 2, that He has a will; 3, that He 
 has ability ; 4, that He has determination. Head i, God determined 
 the creation of the world. Head 2, He determined the government 
 of the world ; in providing for animals and man, appointing the 
 time and place of their birth and death and in over-ruling all things. 
 Head 3, He determined the salvation of man, — i, a saviour ; 2, sub- 
 jects, — John XV. i6 ; 3, the subordinate means. 
 
 Luke xiii. 5 : " Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." 
 I. The condition of the individuals, described criminals, crime the 
 cause of repentance. See Cain, Gen. 4-17, and Joseph Brethren, 
 Gen. xlii. 21-25, and Israel, Numb. 14-36, and Saul, Sam 1524, 
 and David, 2nd Sam xii. 7-13, and sin universal, James iii. 2, Isa. v. 
 3-6, Eccles. vii. 20, Gall. v. 17, Gen. vi. 5, Rom. iii. 9-10. 2. The 
 
WILLIAM BLACK LAWS. 115 
 
 duty commanded " Repent," natural repentance arising from fears 
 of the natural eflects, of their imprudence to themselves and others ; 
 repentance from fear of punishment by law, — from a disgust of sin, 
 and desire that a principle of perfection might be within them c(iuiva- 
 lent to conversion, ist, he shows that 'ne has true repentance by con- 
 fessing his sin : I, in being humble, 2, in being sorrowful, 3, in having 
 self-accusation; 2nd, he shows from fear seeking his sin, i, he in- 
 dulges no longer in sin, 2, he turns from all sin to God, (i) with his 
 heart, (2) with his hand, (3) voluntarily, (4) bincerely. Head 3, the 
 end of all those who neglect repentance — complete destruction — a 
 fearful conclusion to all iheir hopes. 
 
 2 Tim. i-io ; '• Who hath abolished death," death the punish- 
 ment of crime. 1, What i.i death? 2, Christ hath abolished death 
 in His own individual case ; His sufferings, dcatii and resurrec\ion 
 show His power ; 3, in the case of all who believe in Him, they are 
 said to sleep, before sleep they unclothe. 
 
 LETTER.^ or WM. BLACK LAWS, Sr. 
 
 letter first — to widow nlack. laws. 
 
 Pathwvnde Ek^chin, Edinburgh, Friday, iith Feb., 1831. 
 Dear Mother and Sister, — I arrived in Edinburgh about five 
 o'clock. I was very fatigued and scarcely able to walk. I went 
 first to Mr. John Maxwell''' fnjin^r, and I am to stop there. I have 
 got no situation yet ; but I think I will get one in Blackwood's as 
 a clerk. My passage to Edinburgh altogether cost 15s. 4d. I was 
 very unwell all the road to Dundee, and crossing the water, but 
 was not sick. I was inside to Dundee ; but was outside after that. 
 I did not see uncle in Du uee, .md, if he sends a letter, tell me 
 what he says when you write me. I hope you had been no worse 
 in sitting up all night ; be not much troubled about me, for you 
 know God wi.I take care of you and me. He has always done it, 
 and He will not leave us, if we seek Him. I was not sick crossing 
 the waters. Tell all my friends that I am well ; comfort my aunt 
 and yourselves, for I think I will get into a place here. I do not 
 
Il6 WRITINGS AND LIFE OF 
 
 know what will be the price of lodgings ; they are fine people, and 
 very kind to me. * ♦ * j ^jjj vvrite my uncle in Durham when 
 I get a place. If you see Aiex. Laing, you can tell him I am well. No 
 more at present, but remains your affectionate son until death, 
 
 William Black Laws. 
 
 LETIER SECOND — TO WIDOW BLACK LAWS. 
 
 Pathwynde Brechin, Edinburgh, i6th Feb., 1831. 
 Dear Mother, Sister, and Aunt, — I hope you received my 
 last letter. I am quite well, hoping these few lines will find you 
 the same. Fortune has been more favourable to me than to some, 
 or, rather, let me say Almighty God. I have got a situation in Mr. 
 Blackwood's, bookseller, Edinburgh ; he gives me twelve shillings 
 a week, and I think my board wages, I think, will not exceed six 
 shillings. I have been obliged to buy a new hat, which cost me 
 seven ^hillings, and I have now four pounds and eight shillings. 
 * ^- * * Tell my aunt I was speering for her. I hope you will 
 join me in giving thanks to God for being so kind to me. '-i- ^ ^ 
 If you think it right to send my trunk, do it; and, if not, keep it 
 some time ; but I am ill off for want of it. * * * j hope you 
 were no worse sitting up all night when I left Brechin. Write me a 
 long letter, tell me all that is going witli you ; give my respects to 
 all my friends and to Barbara Stuart. No more at present, but 
 remains your loving son until death, 
 
 William Black Laws. 
 
 I will be able to send you back your money or ever it belong. 
 
 Note. — I have heard my father say that the ^^5 note his mother gave him was 
 the last money he received from her, and that he very soon returned it ; so, from 
 then, his fortune was self-made. T. B. L. 
 
 LETTER THIRD. 
 
 Edinburgh. 
 Dear Mother and Sister, — Since I last wrote I have had some 
 trials to go through, which has been the occasion of my not writing 
 you until I should be settled one way or not at all. * * * ^r. 
 
WILLIAM BLACK LAWS. 117 
 
 Blackwood had no more work for me, and when we parted on the 
 26th November he gave me eight shilHngs more than my wages and 
 an excellent recommendation. On the day I went from him I heard 
 of a situation in a printer's, to be warehouseman. * * The man 
 was only unwell and they required only one for a few days. I was 
 there a week on last Saturday. I chanced to meet with Thomas 
 Duncan. * * He told me '^ ^^ * of a place in a book- 
 seller's. * * He recommended me, and I have now gotten it. 
 My salary is the same I had with Mr. Blackwood, but it is a better 
 situation. * * Thus we see the goodness of God unto us all, 
 when we remember the way by which He has brought us. * * * * 
 I hope my dear sister is quite well. I must remember her for her 
 kindness to you or ever it belong. Nothing has given me more 
 pleasure than to think that she is doing her duty. I have been a 
 little put to it (but not with regard to money), it was because I had 
 no work. What reason have I to thank God, who has been so kind 
 tome. =i^ * * Your faithful and affectionate son until death, 
 
 William Black Laws. 
 
 Tell Mr. Black that I am now with Maclachlan & Stuewarts, 
 Booksellers, South Bridge street. 
 
 (After this his mcther was with him at Victoria place, Canegy 
 street, Edinburgh. So I find by addresses on her letters.) T.B.L. 
 
 LETTER FOURTH. 
 
 Glasgow, iqth March, 1853. 
 Dear Mother, — ^: * * Afflictions are the taws which God 
 employs to draw us nearer to mmself, to tell us we are His children ; 
 and, oh ! grant that we may receive with filial affection His cor- 
 rection. The Epistles abound with exhortations to continue our 
 confidence in God, to hold fast the doctrine of Christ ; and it tells 
 us that unless we do so we have great danger of falling from our 
 first love. God does nothing in vain — there is no deficiency in his 
 plan, neither is there a redundancy. * * * I do know that the 
 heart of man is prone to evil ; the whole history of the IsraeHtes 
 proves this, so much so that Paul in his Epistle to the Hebrews 
 refers to it ; the whole of the iour*^ --'^^pter is upon this subject. 
 
Il8 WRITINGS AND LIFE OF 
 
 And, really, when we begin to examine ourselves, how like the Israelites 
 we are : how far we have come short of our favours and opportunities 
 — nay, of the very grace and talents bestowed upon us; and, alas 1 
 how apt we are to grumble upon the merest opposition which we 
 think to our enjoyment. We often magnify oui blessings into hard- 
 ships, and look upon God as an austere man, reaping where he had 
 not sowed and gathering where he had not strawed : it is our duty, 
 therefore, to employ the language of the Apostle, and to say : " Let 
 us, therefore, fear that a promise being left us of entering into his 
 rest, we should seem to come short of it." * * * ji^\\ your kind 
 gifts fit admirably. Accept of our thanks for this expression of 
 your affection towards us. Jeanie joins me in kind love to you. I 
 remain, with all affection, 
 
 William Black Laws. 
 The number of my shop is 169 [Argy/e street] ; the number of the 
 house, 56 Howard street. 
 
 LIFE OF WILLIAM BLACK LAWS. 
 
 By his second son, Thomas. 
 
 In writing the life of my father, I have very little inform ition, 
 both as regards his early life or his ancestors, so I wrote to his only 
 sister, my aunt, and received the following reply . — 
 
 " 22 Queen street, Montrose, Scotland, 9TH June, 1893. 
 " T(j Thomas Black Laws : 
 
 ** Mv Dear Nephew, — I received your kind letter, and happy to 
 see your are well and enjoying yourself ; but I am afraid I will not 
 be able to help you much with what you want. My cousin, Mrs. 
 Gillon, was seeing me last week, and I was asking her if she knew 
 anything about grandfather's ancestors. ' She did not know any- 
 thing more than that he came from the North, and he was a good 
 man,.' I said I often htord it said he was a good man, Francis 
 Blacklaws, — that is your f-^ther's grandfather's name, and that is the 
 way they spelled it. R_ grandmother's name was Isabella Manipes ; 
 her friends all belonged about the Mears Laurencekirk and Auchin- 
 
WILLIAM BLACK LAWS. II9 
 
 loe ; that is where Uncle Brown was born. I have seen some of 
 
 them, they all looked to be well enough off; but they are dead years 
 
 ago. My mother's father and mother belonged to the North, too. 
 
 Grandmother's name was Isabella Taws, — that was the Gfelic of 
 
 Thomson. She came from Tarlen of Aboyne. Grandpa was near 
 
 that, but I have forgotten the name of the places ; both families were 
 
 very well off. ' Grandpa payed his knd when he bought it in the 
 
 Parish of Brechin, and grandma had a good set-off, sixty-five sheep 
 
 to the tail of it. Uncle was to see them all two years before we 
 
 were married, and I have seen lots of them when I was little and 
 
 was seeing Auntie Bell and her family ; I forget her husband's 
 
 name ; she was a sister of grandpa's, Alexander Malcolm — he 
 
 was a cousin of the last Earl ; he died when I was about tvvelve or 
 
 thirteen years old ; the estate was up there about Banchory ; there 
 
 was no heir appeared, so it was advertised for sale. Uncle saw it 
 
 in the papers and went off to buy it; but was too late. The last 
 
 Earl was a bachelor. That is all I can tell you about it. Your 
 
 loving aunt, 
 
 " Elizabeth Blacklaws Burns." 
 
 Francis Blacklaws and Isabella Mancy, his wife, had eight children 
 and twenty-three grandchildren. James ad two, who went to 
 London; John had fourteen, amongst them James, in Montrose; 
 William, in Dundee; Anne, in Fyfe ; and Mary (Mrs. Gillion) ; 
 and David had four, two of which were in the army ; Anne 
 Eddy had one daughter, Anne ; Jennet was unmarried ; Eliza- 
 beth Lyle had two, one of which was William, Grieve of 
 Chalton ; William, who married Elizabeth Malcolm, had two, 
 William and Elizabeth ; and Alexander wa unmarried. 
 
 Alexander Malcolm and Isabella Taws had eleven children and 
 thirty-eight grandchildren ; Alexander had nine, and James had six, 
 and Mary Gibb had two ; and Jane and Isabella were unmarried ; 
 Catharine Burns had five, and Elizabeth Black Laws had two, and 
 Carnegie none, and Anne Bard had eight, and Robert v/as unmarried, 
 and Mary McFarlane had six. 
 
 Francis Blick'aws baptised his son William on 14th September, 
 1789, in Fordon I'arish; his son lived there till 1810, when he left 
 ist July ; he ivas t'.ien unmarried ; he and his wife left Minmuire 
 
120 WRITINGS AND LIFE OF 
 
 Parish in 1811, left Brechin in 1812, and left Forfar in 1813,50 
 says their church lines, and they were of good )ral character. 
 He died at Perth of smallpox, having contracted the disease a year 
 before by attending a sick friend, he being then in his twenty-fourth 
 year. His wife moved to Brechin after his death, and kept herself 
 and son William, who was then about three years old, and her 
 daughter Elizabeth, then a babe, by keeping a small shop and weav- 
 ing. Her son William learned the bookbinding trade with Mr. 
 Black. In 1831 he went to Edinburgh, clerking — first, in Mr. 
 Blackwood's ; second, in Maclachlan & Stewart's, both booksellers. 
 I next find he had a bookseller's shop of his own in Glasgow ; but 
 having sold that, he studied a year or two and preached for the 
 Baptists. Next, he had a shop in Dimifernline ; but sold that and 
 again had a shop in Glasgow. He married 24th January, 1844, 
 Jane, second daughter of the late Thomas Hay, of Hervey's 
 mailing. In 1858 he emigrated for the benefit of his health to W y^ 
 Lot II, Con. 3, S. E. R. Warwick I'ownship, Lambton County, 
 Ontario Province (then called Upper Canada). He died there, after 
 a few hours illness, on Saturday, ist May, 1875, at midnight, leaving 
 his wife and four daughters and two sons to mourn his loss, having 
 lost no children by death. He was of fair complexion and a very 
 correct and particular speaker, a good Greek and Hebrew scholar, 
 a Freewill Baptist, and a Reformer. 
 
 He left a good estate of this world's goods, also a good library, 
 all of his own collection, and a good name for firmness and rectitude ; 
 having preached for most of the churches in Warwick when their 
 pastors were absent ; he also held Sabbath services for a long time 
 in Warwick Village — all without fee or reward (from men at least), 
 proving practically that the Gospel he proclaimed was free. The 
 most of his sermons and hymns now printed were made in Canada, 
 and so to his memory we pen the following lines : — 
 
 LIFE OF WILLIAM B. LAWS, Sr. 
 
 I 
 Now step by step we see him climb 
 
 Up the steep hill of fame ; 
 Though not his object, yet in time 
 He gain'd it all the same. 
 
WILLIAM BLACK. LAWS. 121 
 
 2 
 
 No father near that he might tell 
 
 His trouble or his joy ; 
 But then his mother lov'd him well, 
 
 Her first-born, only boy. 
 
 3 
 
 Study it was his chief delight, 
 
 His object to do good ; 
 He laboured hard both day and night, 
 
 And studied all he could. 
 
 4 
 No wealth fate gave hi?n in his youth, 
 
 But something nobler still : 
 A love for parent and for truth, 
 
 A persevering will. 
 
 5 
 He claim'd his fortune from stern fate, 
 
 He also claim'd life's joys. 
 She gave to him a worthy mate, 
 She gave him girls and boys. 
 6 
 
 And so this lesson we can read 
 
 From his success in life ; 
 Like him we also can succeed 
 
 And gain both wealth and wife. 
 
 7 
 Though books and riches are not thrown 
 
 Right in our path to claim, 
 As he has done, it can be shown 
 
 That' we can do the same. 
 8 
 Who would have thought the widow's son 
 
 In Scotland's realm could rise, 
 A wealthy citizen become 
 
 And also very wise. 
 
*a WRITINGS AND LIFE OF 
 
 9 ' 
 
 It needs no words or song of mine 
 
 To spread abroad his fame ; 
 His works, his honours, shall define, 
 
 And give to him a name. 
 
 10 
 
 But as he rose so you can rise, 
 
 Perhaps not quite so high, 
 But yet be wealthy, learn'd and wise. 
 
 And honour'd when you die. 
 
 II 
 You say your trials are severe, 
 
 Think you that he had none ; 
 To those that ever persevere 
 
 All things are sure to come. 
 
 12 
 
 His books that entertain and please, 
 
 And give the learn'd ones joy ; 
 Remember that he had not these 
 
 When he was but a boy. 
 
 He bought them up both here and there, 
 
 For such he was inclin'd, 
 And you can gather books that's rare 
 
 If you have got the mind. 
 
 14 
 There's naught he did that you can't do, 
 
 His will it made his way, 
 If to yourself you should be true 
 
 By night as well as day. 
 
 Warwick Township, 2Sth January, 1895. 
 
 Thomas Black Laws. 
 
WILLIAM BLACK LAWS. 1 23 
 
 APPKNDIX. 
 
 Since this book was put in type I liave found the following dis- 
 course among my father's papers, and might also say his own death 
 was very sudden, being in good health at darkening, and by midnight 
 he was dead by serous apoplexy. 
 
 T. B. Laws. 
 
 A DISCOURSE 
 
 On Hebrews, Chap , 9, verses 27- 2S. And as it is appointed unto men once to die, 
 but after death the judgment ; so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of 
 many, and unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time with- 
 out sin unto salvation. 
 
 The inspired penman in the former part of this chapter makes a 
 comparison l)etween the Mosaic and Christian economies, in which 
 he shows the superiority of the latter to the former : that its sacrifice 
 and priesthood were superior to the sacrifices and to the priesthood 
 under the law, both in regard to the inherent virtue of the victim 
 offered, and the nature and character of Him who made the atone- 
 ment ; that the mediation of Moses was, from its constitution, only 
 a shadow and type of that of Christ, — it was merely temporary, while 
 Christ's was to remain forever ; that from the very nature of things it 
 was impossible that the Mosaic dispensation could be anything else, 
 for its priests were mortal, depraved, sinful and ginning men; that 
 when they made an atonement for the people they had first to offer a 
 sacrifice for themselves ; that their conduct in many cases was of the 
 basest kind, and further sunk in wickedness than even the people 
 whom they were appointed to teach ; that the victims whom they 
 offered were utterly unfit to propitiate the Deity, for they were beings 
 devoid of reason and totally incapable of understanding the nature 
 of the service they were performing, because, in order to effect recon- 
 ciliation with God, man required a representative indued with reason, 
 having the power to offer himself voluntarily as a substitute for man, 
 and above all it behooved him to be pure in word, thought, and 
 action, immaculate in every part of his character, and related to the 
 human family. Such could not be said of the victims appointed 
 under the law, for, having no reason, they had no voluntary power, 
 
t24 WRniNGS AND LIFE OF 
 
 and instead of being related to man, theyiwere subservient, and in fine 
 they are held up to him as beinj:s whom he is not to imitate, and is 
 commanded not to be like the beasts that perish. This the whole 
 economy of Moses was in itself unsatisfactory : its priesthood, its 
 sacrifices, its rites, ceremonies and purifications were indeed pom- 
 pous, but in so far as regarded the ])ropitiation and renovation of 
 man, they were in themselves utterly useless ; they were only patterns 
 of heavenly things, a schoolmaster to lead them unto Christ, until 
 the fulness of time should arrive. But the atonement of Christ was 
 of a very different character, it was in every respect answerable to 
 the condition of man. He was bone of our bone, and Hesh of our flesh ; 
 in His person He was free from sin, and guile was not found in His 
 mouth ; He gave Himself, was not dragged as a sheep to the slaughter; 
 He was no subordinate creature, but the great Creator of all things ; 
 He offered not the blood of bulls and of goats, but His own blood, 
 entering not into the tabernacle made with hands, but into heaven it- 
 self; He required no daily sacrifice, for His one offering made com- 
 ])lete satisfaction for sins ; and the whole is beautifully summed up 
 in the words of the text, descriptive of the cause why even sacrifices 
 were at all appointed. In further illustrating this subject 1 shall 
 first direct your minds to the inevitable consequences that must hap- 
 pen to all men, and, second, show the propitiatory work and second 
 appearance of Christ in relation to these consequences. 
 
 I. The inevitable consequences that must happen to all men. 
 These are twofold : Death and Judgment, t. Death. " It is (says the 
 text) appointed unto all men once to die," and the truth of this 
 assertion requires no elaborate proof, for not a day passes over our 
 heads without an example that such is the case ; none yet have ever 
 declared that it does not exist. Infatuated men have arisen in all 
 ages, and asserted that there was no God, evidently to destroy the 
 dread of death ; but they believe not their own assertion, Death hav- 
 ing terrors which even that doctrine cannot allay ; and how can it ? 
 for the very existence of Death shows that the destinies of man are 
 wielded by a Supreme Power. Death is no bugbear only to frighten 
 children with, for minds of a superior order and the stoutest hearts 
 shrink at its appearance ; he sways his sceptre over all, and none are 
 exempted from his rule, — from the palace of the king to the lowest 
 huts of man, all are visited by the uncouth stranger. He claims his 
 
WILLIAM BLACK LAWS. 1 25 
 
 vi. um without ceremony, no emergency will be an excuse unto him. 
 We see numberless instances of this, as, for example, friends who 
 have been long separated from each other may have met, the first con- 
 gratulations were just over when the king of terrors steps forward, 
 claims his subject, and bursts forever the bands of convivial friend- 
 ship. Again, the bridal ceremony has scarcely closed when this sacred 
 bond is snapped asunder ; they were happy in each other's fellow- 
 ship, counting upon a lorg life of uninterru])ted joy ; they already in 
 their minds beheld their numerous family flourishing around them, 
 they imagined them rising into boyhood, from boyhood to manhood ; 
 they never for once dteamed of any barrier to their wishes, when sud- 
 denly, and to their surprise, the ruthlesr invader enters this private 
 circle, strikes his fatal dart at an affectionate husband, and separates 
 him for ever from a loving wife, leaving her burdened with the charge 
 of helpless babes. The youth who has just entered the world promises 
 himself many a pleasure which he is prevented from enjoying; the 
 man of wealth who has grown gray in acquiring it looks forward 
 to a time of gaiety and happiness, to worldly pleasures and enjoy- 
 ments ; but he is mistaken, for in the act of making money he is told : 
 " Your time is at an end." Such is the certainty of death, and such is 
 his power ; it will come, but when ? we know not, for when we least 
 expect, it makes its appearance. And why is this, and why are men 
 assailed with such an enemy ? is a question which all men ought to 
 ask themselves, for it is necessary and important that all should 
 be acquainted with its answer. The cause of death then was 
 error, and a dej^arture from the laws of rectitude, which He who 
 formed man enjoined him to obey. The Book of Revelations declares 
 that this was the true cause, and gives a succinct account of the whole 
 matter ; but we have not only the assertion of the inspired writer but 
 the example of the heathen world testifying to the truth of that asser- 
 tion. Every man looks upon death as an evil, a curse which his race 
 is for ever doomed to be subjected to ; they have therefore instituted 
 various practices and adopted numberless ceremonies to destroy the 
 power by which it is arnied, but none can escape, for all have sinned 
 and come short of the glory of God. Every relation must be dis- 
 solved, every tie must be unloosened, and this awful and severe sen- 
 tence which has passed, and will be inflicted upon all mankind, has 
 been caused by sin jeven the innocent, who has only opened its eyes 
 
126 WRITINGS AND LIKE OF 
 
 to receive the light of this world and then close them for ever, even 
 its annihilation is caused by having for its parents sinful beings. This 
 awful decree proves too true that the Ruler of the universe is a being 
 of immaculate holiness ; it shows that His laws cannot be trifled with, 
 or trampled under the foot of man and he be allowed to pass un- 
 punished " In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt die," was the 
 intimation, and no sooner was the action done than the solemn sen- 
 tence was pronounced : " Dust thou art and unto dust »hou shalt 
 return." 
 
 The second consequence that must happen to all men is Judgment. 
 If none can escape death, none can escape judgment, for the one is 
 the natural effect of the other. Death was caused by being the 
 descendants of sinful parents, and was the punishment whicii their 
 actions deserve ; but judgment is for individual actions and to test and 
 point out the character of these actions. The being who is to be our 
 judge, as has already being shown, is a perfect being, and it is before 
 Him all our actions are to be scrutinized. None will be able to stand 
 His piercing glance, for if before an earthly judge the limbs shake and 
 the heart moves with quick palpitation, what will be our condition 
 when we stand before the Judge of all, who sees the inmost recesses 
 of our soul, and who has been privy to all our actions? Before 
 our fellowmen we can conceal our motives, and appear what we do 
 not intend to be ; but before God no concealment can take place, we 
 shall appear before Him self condemned, having nothing to say in our 
 own defence. If we were often to keep this in mind, our actions would 
 be far different from what tliey are ; but we forget, and from forgetful- 
 ness proceed callousness and disregard for the future. But bear in 
 mind, ye who are careless, that beyond time is the judgment. Now 
 ye may boast of your youth, your strength, your wealth, your power,and 
 your security, but the almighty God will bring you loWj and He who 
 supports the universe will look with contempt upon your puny arm. 
 The Apostle Paul calls this judgment the terrors of the Lord, and to 
 fallen man its terrors are indescribable. The office of the judge is 
 to examine and pronounce sentence according to the nature of the 
 crime upon the guilty and unjustified, and among men this is some- 
 times a difficult matter, but our judge is the omnipresent God, and 
 s acquainted with all our actions. To pass amongst the crowd unno- 
 ticed is impossible, for He sees all and our own hearts also will con- 
 
WILLIAM BLACK L\WS. I87 
 
 dcmii US, being conscious that we have done wrong, and, what is 
 worst of all, our companions in iniquity will be there along with us, 
 ready to bear testimony against us ; those whom we have injured and 
 those who have assisted us will both be there ; those who have been 
 spectators of our evil conduct, and reproved us for what we have 
 done, will also be there ; the privileges we have thrown away, the 
 bounties of God we have despised, the time we have misspent, the 
 evil life we have led, the bad example we have shown to those 
 around us, will sting us to tlie quick when we behold the victims of 
 our wickedness standing beside us and augmenting our wretched- 
 ness. Such must be our condition if we appear before God unjust- 
 ified ; and to escape the awful result of judgment will be impossible, 
 banishment from the preaonce of God and association with the 
 workers of iniquity must be our fate. It cannot be otherwise, for those 
 who are unjust and unholy cannot dwell with God, for His nature 
 and theirs are opposite, for even in licaven they could not be happy, 
 with the vicious nature of which they are possessed, God therefore 
 must expell them f;om His presence and assert His supremacy. 
 Thus the wicked mnsl go away into everlasting fire prepared for 
 the devil and his angels. But this leads us to the second branch of 
 our subject, which is lo speak of the propitiatory work and second 
 appearance of Christ in relation lo these consequences. Having 
 shown that death must on account of sin pass upon all men, and 
 from the same cause judgment must follow, the necessity of a propi- 
 tiation must now appear. On account of sin man was appointed to 
 one death and one judgment, and to meet the exigencies of the case 
 Christ was once offered, and by that one offering was laid a ground of 
 hope for an immortal existence. The terror of death is sin, and an 
 offended God unappeased ; but Christ has come to reconcile (iod and 
 man by undergoing the penalty which the law of God prescribed, and 
 that penalty was death, hideous and revolting death ; His sufferings 
 did not merely consist in the extinguishing of life, but in sustaining 
 the wrath of God, and, in my opinion, borne out by the testimony of 
 the Holy Scriptures, they consisted of public shame and disgrace, ac- 
 companied with inconceivable bodily pain and indescribable anguish 
 of soul. That Christ was able to make the atonement required and 
 effect reconciliation between God and man is already proven by thg 
 character He sustained whilst dwelling among men, by the wonder- 
 
128 WKITINC.S AND LIFE OK 
 
 ful miracles He performed and the testimony which God publicly 
 gave concerning Him in tlial He raised Him from the dead. The 
 character which was given Him Uy His enemies wasihat He was free 
 from all blame. "Never man spake like this man," was the answer 
 which the soldiers gave the rulers of the Jews when they sent them to 
 apprehend Him; the traps they laid were insufficient to detect 
 Him in guilt, for in Him could be found no evil. Governor Pilate 
 bore testimony to this, and was astonished at His conduct. The 
 miracles He performed were likewise certificates of His divinity, they 
 proved He was sent by God, for no man could do these miracles whici» 
 He did except God had been with Him ; — He gave life to the dead, 
 eyes to the blind, feet to the lame, and speech to the dumb, all which 
 show the divinity of His nature and mission. God looked upon Him 
 as His anointed Son, the remover of the offence thai existed between 
 Him and His creatures ; as His righteousness whom He hath sent 
 forth to be the purifier of the people, that all who received Him by 
 faith might be exempted from the punishment of sin. His resurrec- 
 tion from the dead bore ample testimony to the complete fulfillment 
 of His mission; He was declared to be the Son of God, with power,ac- 
 cording to the spit it of Hohness by the resurrection from the dead. 
 Thus the death of Christ made complete satisfaction for the guilt of 
 man, and that atonement was made for all men. He is the high priest 
 who saves all who come to Him even to the very uttermost ; none 
 can come in vain to Him, for He even liveth to make intercession 
 for them at the right hand of God, whence He has ascended and 
 where He sits upon His throne of intercession. It was to this paci- 
 fication that sacrifices under the law pointed, for He was the only 
 scapegoatthat effectually removed sin. He carried it with Him into 
 the wilderness of the grave, and when He burst the bands of death 
 He triumphed over it, and thus took away the sting of death. To all 
 those therefore who receive Him as their saviour from the dreadful 
 punishment that awaits sin, as the only basis of their acceptance with 
 God to them, death is stripped of all its terrors, and instead of being 
 to them a curse, it is the kind welcome of a kind Father to enjoy His 
 everlasting embrace. The blessed crown of immortality is set before 
 them, and they shall not be disappointed, for they shall be joint heirs 
 with Christ, and made sons of God. The judgment to them has no 
 terrors, for a' hough they well know they have no righteousness to 
 
WILLIAM BLACK LAWS. I 39 
 
 recommend them lo God, yet, Christ's righteousness being imputed 
 unto them, they know they are safe. While here they deplore their 
 infirmities, their back slidings and shortcomings, but ihey kok for- 
 ward to the second coming of Christ with glorious expectation, when 
 their hopes sliall l)e realized in actual enjoyments. Then shall Ihev 
 see God face lo face as their friend, the center of their happiness r ;;» 
 the author of their perfection. I'he amount of glory that awaits is lo 
 them unknown as yet, but they know tliat ihey shall be like Him, for 
 they shall see Him as He is. 
 
 In conclusion, permit me to address those who in the coming judg- 
 ment have no hope that any will shield them from the punishment 
 that awaits the sinner. It has been shown you that life is uncertain, — 
 our life is in our lip and our breath is in our nostrils. How suddenly 
 are many be called stand before the bar of God. We are compared to 
 grass that soon withers, that all our strength, all our glory is like this 
 grass that perisheth. The Psalmist compares our days to suioke, to 
 a shadow that flieth, and the apostle James says our life is but a vapor 
 that appearelh for a little time and then vanishelh away, — all which 
 metaphorical expressions are too truly realized in life. We ha"e 
 heard of individuals entering places of worship, and while engaged in 
 leading the devotions dropped down dead ; of others leaving their 
 homes in perfect health, and carried back a lifeless corpse ; and you 
 have no security that your death shall not be as sudden, why then 
 do you delay being at peace with God? You have been told 
 that you cannot be accepted by God until such time as you repair 
 the injury you have done, until you make amends for the insults you 
 have given His laws and satisfied Hm justice; He informs you by the 
 word of inspira.ion how that can be done. He has told you that in 
 order to effect this He has sent His Son Jesus Christ into the world ; 
 He has humbled Him, by causing Him to veil His glory with human- 
 ity, who became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, and 
 in our nature made complete compensation for ycur sins and for the 
 sins of the whole world. Witness thus His love and strong affection, 
 they will surely, says He, reverence my son. Do you still despise 
 His offers of mercy? Imagine not that it is a cunning devised fable 
 that it is a story invented by superstitious and enthusiastic priesthood ; 
 your hearts tell you that it is not. Let me then entreat you not to 
 si:?nd your strength for that which is not meat and your labor for 
 
 I 
 
130 WRITINGS AND LIFE OF 
 
 that which satisfieth not. What satisfaction will the pleasures of the 
 world give you at the hour of death? None, but will rather add to 
 your torment and misery, when you rellect upon the moments you 
 have spent in vain. Think, I beseech you, upon the judgment beyond 
 death; — do you think you can look Him in the face and upbraid 
 Him for having made you, and having only given you one talent, while 
 to others he gave five ? You cannot, for God only requires an ac- 
 count of what He has entrusted to your care, for the prostration of 
 the faculties and blessings He has bestowed upon you, for despising 
 the mediation of His Son. Remember, if ye despise the day of His 
 mercy, and if ye set at naught all His counsels, and will none of His re- 
 proof, that a time will come when He will also laugh at your calamity 
 and mock when your fear cometh, when your fear cometh as des- 
 olation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind, when distress 
 and anguish cometh upon you. 
 
 To you who have fled for refuge to the Saviour to shield you from 
 the coming storm, allow me to remind you of the necessity there 
 is of watchfulness, of not being high-minded, but rather to fear lest a 
 promise being left you of enteving into His rest any of you should 
 seem to come short of it ; that you not only be vigilant yourselves 
 but that you stir up in your brethren the same diligence, knowing that 
 the time past of your lives should suflice tc -vork the will of the flesh, 
 bearing in mind also the shortness of time. Let your influence operate 
 if possible- upon the minds of sinners around, let your life and temper 
 be in strict accordance with the high profession which you make and 
 the royal honors that await you, always bearing in mind that ye are 
 risen with Christ, that ye seek those things which are above, where 
 Christ sitteth at the right hand of God. 
 
WILLIAM BLACK LAWS. I3I 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 
 Preface and Dedication 3 
 
 Sermon- -John iii. 16 5 
 
 " John iii. 16 10 
 
 " John xix. 30 20 
 
 '• Acts XX. 21 31 
 
 " T: lin. ill 45 
 
 " 1st Cor. XV. 22 57 
 
 " istTim.i.rs 59 
 
 " Heb. xii. 1-2. 72 
 
 That Night the Paschal Lamb 75 
 
 Jesus Christ, the Faithful Witness 76 
 
 Behold the Greatness of the Love 77 
 
 Why thus Complain, why Murmur so ? 78 
 
 Shall we be under Sin's vile sway ? , 79 
 
 Jesus Christ, Almighty Saviour 80 
 
 Behold, we have a Great High Priest 81 
 
 Concerning those who sleep in Christ 82 
 
 As Moses in the Wilderness 83 
 
 Now, shall the God'of Peace 84 
 
 For ever ^lest is God 85 
 
 Jesus, our Lord, hath Died 86 
 
 God Almighty, Great Creator 87 
 
 Those whom God hath called and chosen 89 
 
 Sinners, in your Disobedience 90 
 
 If once it were Dissolved 91 
 
 The Lord is my Shepherd 92 
 
 Come, my Soul, and Sing the Fame r . . . . 93 
 
 Look to the Cross, my Soul 94 
 
 Bless thou Jehovah, O my Soul 95 
 
 In Temptation's Fiery Furnace 97 
 
 Infinite and Eternal Thought 98 
 
 Ye who Believe in Jesus Christ 98 
 
 Praise God, the Source of every Thing 99 
 
 The Skies God's Glory do Proclaim loo 
 
 Sinner, on the Cursed Tree loi 
 
 All who Love and Serve the Lord 102 
 
 All that unto Christ belong 103 
 
 Come and Sing a lofty Song 105 
 
 Jesus Loved the Sons of Men 107 
 
132 CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 
 The Sky has Told 107 
 
 Confess ye to Jehovah 108 
 
 Psalm I., translation 108 
 
 Psalm II., translation 109 
 
 Breath, Spirit 109 
 
 Fragment 1 110 
 
 Fragment II no 
 
 Fragment III 112 
 
 Brick Meetii^g House... 113. 
 
 Notes and Heads of Sermons I14 
 
 Letter — Feb. 11, 1831 115 
 
 " Feb. 16, 1831 116 
 
 " from Edinburgh Ii6- 
 
 *' from Glasgow, Mar. 19, 1853 117 
 
 Life of William Black Laws 1 18 
 
 Lines in Memory of William Black Laws ; 1 20